The Key
by Laquoren
Summary: Team Natsu decides to take a job catching some powerful bandits terrorizing Magnolia recently for a staggering 4 million jewel; however, instead of finding normal criminals, they find 9 kids and an egg struggling to survive.
1. Prologue

Parings: Natsu/Lucy, Erza/Jellal, Gray/Juvia, Levy/Gajeel, Wendy/Romeo, Happy/Carla and OC parings. There is light romance in this story, but it's not the genre. I don't own Fairy Tail

* * *

Prologue

? POV

"Are you sure we should do this?" I asked my sister again, my body tense with worry. My bad feeling hasn't gone away the last time we did this, and it's still here, but… she was right…. What choice do we have?

"We have to. Unless you and the rest of us want to die from starvation." She replied flatly, walking closer to the shop.

I can't believe she's been driven to this. Normally she would go on a rant about how we would never go so low to start stealing to get the things we need. Has… Has our situation really gotten this bad?

My sister's eyes were in downcast. "You know I would never do this unless our lives were on the line, right? We've gone with little food for _weeks_. We're starting to look like skeletons. We can never beat _them_ if were skeletons," she hesitated, "…or dead."

I looked at the mark on my left shoulder and cringed at the memories it held. _We're a disgrace… _

I gulped. Despite knowing the consequences, I put on my disguise and took off anything that would give us away. I jogged to catch up with my sister, who was a few feet away from me, and nodded at her once we reached the entrance of the shop. She nodded back.

I set my hand aflame, feeling some resistance, and burned the front door of the shop to smithereens.


	2. Chapter 1: Nine Kids and an Egg

Chapter 1

Lucy POV

"Flame brains!"

"Ice prick!"

"Idiot!'

"Stupid!"

The insults kept on flying as I blankly stared at Natsu and Grey continuing to beat each other to a pulp. Usually I would yell at them to stop, but _someone _decided to spend the night at my house, and as a result I had to sleep on the floor. I am _way _to tired to put in the effort to yell at them. I already had to yell at Natsu once today already.

But I'm not Erza.

"WOULD YOU TWO STOP FIGHTING LIKE CHILDREN AND ACTUALLY WORK?!" Erza yelled furiously at them as she cracked their necks backwards. I continued to space out.

Natsu and Gray grunted angrily as they fixed the alignment of their heads. Erza looked at me.

"Lucy!" she yelled at me while holding a job listing.

"Yes?!" I immediately shot up from my seat. I don't care how tired I am; it's not worth it to pick a fight with Erza.

"I found a new job for us to take on. It's worth quite a bit of jewel," she answered calmly. Natsu and Gray gave her their attention.

Everyone's eyes widened at the reward, "4 million jewel?!" we exclaimed in union; my mouth was wide open. _Who would give away 4 million jewel to catch some bandits?_

"It says it was issued by the mayor, and I've been hearing around that these bandits are causing quite a ruckus." Ersa said as if she could read my mind.

"Are they strong?" Natsu asked curiously.

I could see the beginning of a sly smile on Erza's face, "Very, we're not the first guild they asked to take this job. They all failed."

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Natsu said excitedly, grabbing me in the process, and ran out of the guildhall.

"Why are you dragging me?!" I yelled at him exasperated, "We're all going as a _team_!"

Natsu stopped about ten or so feet from the guildhall. "I don't know," he replied genuinely, "I guess I was so happy that we are going to be fighting strong opponents that I grabbed you and ran off. "

_ Then why did you only grab me? _I thought irritated. I watched as the others caught up to us. I didn't notice it before, but where is Happy?

"Hey Natsu, do you know where Happy is?" I asked before the others reached us.

"He's…Wait…" Natsu paused, "Where's Happy?" Natsu looked around.

"You seriously _don't _know where Happy is?! I thought he was your best friend!" I face palmed. I knew Natsu could be oblivious, but with Happy? They're around each other almost every minute!

Natsu shrugged, "He's probably off somewhere with Carla. He'll catch up to us."

I shook my head. _He doesn't seem very worried. _

"Where's Happy?" Erza asked, her voice sharp, when she and Gray caught up with us.

"Probably on a job with Carla. He can catch up to us." Natsu replied.

Erza stared at him for a few seconds before we all started to search around town. Erza had a ton of luggage with her as always, Gray and Natsu were bickering at each other (and pretending to be friends once Erza checks on them), and I pretended I was alone at my house asleep (and daydreaming about my rent once we complete this job). All seamed right with the world.

That is until we heard an explosion on the other side of town…

….

We ran as fast as we could once we heard the explosion. It sounded like it came from the south side of town where all the shops were. By the time we got there, one of the many shops, which looked like a restaurant, was half destroyed. It looked like someone took a torch and burned it and managed to not burn half of it. What surprised me the most were the people running out if it carrying food.

They weren't criminals or dark guild members looking to cause trouble, they were nine children, the smallest one carrying a large egg that looked like Happy's. The tallest one looked no older than thirteen.

All nine of them stopped dead in their tracks as soon as they saw us. Their eyes were wide with shock. Erza stepped up and asked them, not fazed by their ages at all. "Are you the bandits destroying the town recently?"

One of the youngest nodded; he had dark brown eyes similar to Erza's and spiky light brown hair. His clothes were nothing out of the extraordinary, just a dark green T-shirt and a pair of shorts that ended right above the knee; however, he had a sword wrapped around his back. Moving his stolen food over to his left hand, he reached for the sword.

"We are wizards from Fairy Tail. We've come to bring you to your knees." Erza announced to them as she pulled out her sword. Natsu got into his fighting stance and had a sly smile on his face. Gray did the same. I grabbed out my keys and began thinking of what spirits I was going to use.

The young boy from before fully took out his sword and prepared for a fight, but he pushed his, what I thought to be friends, away and mumbled a few words to them. Then he said to us,

"I will fight Erza alone."


	3. Chapter 2: Verses Erza!

Chapter 2

Erza POV

We were all taken back by this, even me, but it took me only a few seconds to recompose myself. _Does this kid really want to take me on by himself? _I thought intrigued. _I guess they live up to their reputation._Deciding I'd let the young boy have his wish, I answered, "I accept your challenge."

I started to step forward to fight him, but Gray stopped me, "You can't be serious. Are you really considering fighting this kid one on one? They may have a reputation for being strong, but this is ridiculous..."

Natsu added to his statement, "You'll beat him in five seconds! Let us join in too!"

I glared at them, "I said I accepted his challenge," my glare turned into a death glare, "Is there any problem with that?..."

"No ma'am!" was their reply.

I sighed and started walking closer to the boy. When I glanced at Lucy, she had her head down and her eyes narrowed in interest. She was more intrigued by this than worried about fighting.

I looked at the boy in the eyes to see if I could read his emotions. There wasn't much, but I could see that _respect _outweighed fear.

_This boy keeps getting interesting_. He said nothing in reply once I approached him. He charged forward and started attacking me fiercely with his sword. I countered every shot, and after a few seconds of the fight I stopped defending and went on the offensive. To my surprise, the boy actually managed to defend against many of my shots, until he buckled under his feet from the pressure of the battle. He fell instantly, his defense failing him. He landed flat on his back and quickly sat up, looking sharply at me. His eyes didn't change.

_I wonder why that respect is still there..._

I glanced at the group of bandits once our fight had a gap. One of the bandits, an older girl with long spiky black hair and large onyx eyes in a ragged light blue sundress, looked like she wanted beat me half to death. What was holding her back was a boy around the same age with straighter dark brown hair with the same onyx color eyes, but they were sharper and he had a slight tan color to his skin. He was wearing a red T-shirt and light brown shorts ending right above the knee. The girl was glaring at him and it looked like the boy was whispering something to her, but I couldn't tell. _This isn't how most criminals behave with each other..._

I turned my attention to the boy I was fighting. He stood there in his fighting stance as if he was waiting for me to make the next move. I was starting to get a little frustrated that this fight was lasting this long. I understand that he wanted to fight me, but fights shouldn't take long on a job like this.

I charged at him, requiping to add another sword to the magic sword I was already carrying, our fight continued. I had the upper hand like before, but the kid continued to roughly hold is own. _He's talented for his age._ After a while it was almost like he was dragging out the fight for some reason, and he had yet to use any magic. It irritated me. _When will this kid give up?! _

Suddenly, the kid stopped, slightly out of breath. He glanced over to the other bandits, like he was telepathically saying something to them. The girl from earlier stopped struggling against the boy holding her back and stared intently at the younger boy. A few seconds later, she nodded to him. He nodded back.

The young boy dropped the sword he was fighting with and said to me in a softer voice, "We surrender." My eyes widened. I didn't expect this at all.

I heard an immediate yell from Natsu, "What do you mean by that?!" I looked over and saw Lucy struggling to hold him back by wrapping her arms around his waist.

I huffed at glared at Natsu with my fists clinched, "Stop it Natsu!"

I didn't hear another yell.

"The reason why we became "bandits" is because we ran out food and money a few months after we got here. We didn't know what else to do." He said to me quietly.

I walked over to him. I stood over him like a skyscraper, and judging by the looks everyone around us were giving me; I had a threatening aura around me too. I answered him sternly, "Despite these circumstances, you have no right to go around stealing form people. It's still a crime. A crime you will still have to pay for."

The boy didn't seem surprised by my words at all. He squatted down and squinted his eyes for impact he assumed I would give him. I put my foot on the small of his back. He twitched in response. I said to him, "You will pay back everyone you and your gang took from, understand?" He nodded.

I took my foot off of him and placed my hand on his small head. I smiled and said to him, my voice gentler, "If you all need help doing that, you can always find work at Fairy Tail."

The look in the young boy's eyes softened. He looked over at his friends. They all smiled and nodded at him quickly. The boy replied, his voice full of relief and happiness, "We'll take your offer."


	4. Chapter 3: The Newest Members

Chapter 3

Young boy with sword POV

We followed Erza and the rest of Team Natsu. I turned to Reo, my closest friend out of the group (though we are all pretty close to each other), and whispered to him, hoping neither Natsu, Erza, or Lucy could hear me, "My last minute plan worked out pretty well didn't it?"

He nodded. "Yeah. I didn't know what we'd do if we all had to fight them. The whole town could have been destroyed," he replied quietly, "…and we would have to give away a few secrets we shouldn't share yet."

"It's better this way, but being so close to them brings its own risks."

"Yeah, I'm surprised Leah or Mia didn't kill you for this. They can be _scary _when they're angry."

I did a weak laugh, "ahh… That was luck on my part." I looked up at Natsu, who, with Gray, was in an argument with Erza about not being able fight us, but Gray was calmer about it. I smiled, "They would probably be arguing with us like Natsu and Gray are with Erza." Reo giggled. I listened in on Team Natsu's argument.

"Why did you let him fight you one on one anyway Erza?!" Natsu asked Erza angrily.

"Yeah," Gray continued, "you usually don't care about giving our _enemies _what they want. You just get things over with."

"I was intrigued," Erza replied simply. Her eyes sharpened, "Would either of you feel curious if the people you were fighting had a reputation for being strong?"

After thinking for a few seconds, Natsu replied, "I don't think I would feel _curious. _I would fight him without thinking about it."

"Wow Pyro, I didn't think you had the intelligence to figure that out." Gray said to Natsu with a smile.

"Are you calling me stupid Ice Princess?" Natsu glared at him.

Gray glared back, "Of course I'm calling you stupid dragon boy! Your one of the most oblivious people I know!"

"Take that back!"

"Why should I?"

"You wanna go?!"

"Bring it on!"

I giggled to myself as I watched Natsu and Gray fight, and Erza quickly starting to loose her patience. I felt a tap on my shoulder,

"Why did you hold back against Erza, and aren't you Mr. Shy? I'd never expect you to pull something like that!" It was Leah, the girl with the "spiky black hair".

"I wanted to fight her again, and my full power is one of our _secrets_, remember?" I replied with slight irritation.

I might have been seeing things, but Leah may have shivered.

She gulped before replying but continued anything, "If I were you, I would at least use _requip _for crying out loud! I thought she was going to kill you!" Frustration took up every part of her voice.

"Yeah I saw," I smiled slyly, if I really did see a shiver, I might be able mess with her without dying, "Ritsu was holding you back right?"

"Hmph…"

I laughed, "Sibling rivalry huh?"

She glared at me, "Oh shut up Jason!"

I flinched a little at her anger, but smiled satisfied nether less.

"You know he's right, right?" Mia's voice sounded from behind me.

"You're the last person I want to hear this from." Leah replied to her angrily, her voice low.

"How is that an insult?"

"You and Reo have almost no sibling rivalry. What do you know?"

"You want to try me?" Mia encouraged her.

Leah smiled evilly, "Oh yeah."

I sighed. This is going to be a long trip.

…..

Lucy POV

I sighed at Natsu and Gray as they fought. Not that I wasn't angry too. If we don't turn in the bandits, we get no money. My rent causes at least _some _of my headaches... _Will I ever get rent money?_

But Natsu and Gray have their fair share...

But they're my friends despite everything.

I could feel myself slumping down in disappointment over my rent. I started spacing out again (not that I had anything better to do at the moment) until I heard the screams of two girls fighting behind us.

"Do you really think you can take me Miss I Always Pick Fights With Everyone?!"

"Do you really think _you _can take _me _on Miss Ear Piercings?!"

I guess that a couple of the bandits have the same relationship Natsu and Gray have...

Great...

"Ugh! You're the most annoying person I know!" The taller one continued

"Right back at you _kid_!" The shorter one had a smirk on her face.

The taller one shivered in anger, "I'm older than you!"

"So?"

That only made the taller one angrier, "You'll beg for mercy by the time I'm done with you!"

The shorter one sure liked to encourage her, "Oh? Show me what you got!"

After those words, their fight became a scene. They were fighting as hard as Natsu and Gray. I stopped and stared at them wide eyed. Natsu and Gray even stopped their own fight to watch them. Erza had other plans.

"CAN YOU TWO PLEASE STOP?" She yelled at them, finally loosing her patience.

They two girls stopped immediately jerked back. Then they both grumbled at each other with their arms crossed. Oh! I forgot to ask them this,

"Hey, what are your names?"

They all stared at me. The boy who fought Erza looked down and spoke first, "My name's Jason. The two girls who were fighting behind me are Leah and Mia. Her twin brother, Ritsu is the dark brown haired one with the backpack in the back drawing. The orange haired one next to me is Reo. The youngest is Ren, the one holding the egg. The tallest and oldest is Julia and the boy next to her is Gary, he's her little brother, and the one with the reddish brown hair is Hono."

The black haired girl looked at him funny for a second.

It took my brain a while to process this. "Oh." I looked up and saw the guild hall in sight.

"Hey! We're getting close to Fairy Tail!" Natsu called back cheerfully with a wide smile.

"This will be your new home." Gray called back too.

Erza and I just smiled as the kids followed us completely silent. I sighed. I think Erza scared them half to death.

…

Lucy POV

All nine kids tried to hide behind us as we stepped into the entrance of the guild hall, even the two girls from earlier.

"You guys!" I heard a high-pitched voice. It sounds familiar….

"You guys!" The voice repeated. I turned around.

"Happy?!" I said in surprise, "Where have you been?!"

Everyone else turned to where Happy was flying towards us, Carla only a few feet behind him.

Without Wendy

I was going to ask Carla why she let Happy drag her off somewhere alone, but Natsu exclaimed cheerfully, "Happy! Your back, you really missed out!"

"Really? What did I miss…" Happy caught sight of the kids and his eyes widened with shock. "What are _they _doing with you?!"

"You've met them before?"

"No, I've seen and heard about them though. Carla and I saw a fire in the distance, and when we went to it to see what happened there was a half destroyed building! When we asked some people about it, they said it was done by nine kid bandits. One holding an egg." Happy pointed to the egg Ren was holding. Ren squeezed the egg tighter.

"That's why I told you, you missed out. There officially the newest members of the guild." Natsu explained. Erza, who was standing in the back to make sure the girls didn't fight again, pushed them forward.

Both Happy and Carla's eyes widened. "Wasn't that job issued by the major?" Carla asked, "are they pardoned of their crimes?" I cringed; I forgot about that.

"We'll ask Mirajane to send a letter to him, we'll see how he reacts. Mira was the one who let him know we were taking this job." Erza said simply and calmly. She turned to Natsu, Gray and I, "I told her before I told you." There was an awkward moment of silence.

Then my question came back to me, I smiled evilly, "Oh Carla, why did you and Happy go off together?"

Happy flashed me a wide smile, "Carla agreed to go with me on a date!"

Ok something has happened to the world. Right before I was going to shake Happy and ask him what the heck happened, Carla eased my mental breakdown, "I only agreed because he promised to leave me alone for a week." I could hear Happy's pouting in the distance.

"Why'd you ruin it Carla? I was going to show Lucy I can get a date better than she can!" I could feel myself getting irritated at that.

"How could _you _get a date better than me? I look fantastic in almost everything I wear," I got into cute girl mode, "and aren't you and Carla friends? Why would she want you to stay away from her again?"

"Are you sure about that?" Happy mumbled maliciously, I'm sure about my "I look fantastic in everything" comment. Ok I might murder this cat.

"WHAT MAKES YOU A GOOD JUDGE AT THAT! YOU BARELY WEAR ANYTHING MOST OF THE TIME!" I yelled at him angrily.

Before Happy got a chance to respond, Carla answered my question, "We _are _friends, but the tom-cat can get annoying at times." Carla frowned. Happy moped and turned around in depression.

I did a light laugh. I assume that's revenge enough.

I turned to the guild hall doors and was about to open them until Natsu decided to kick them open and yell at the top of his lungs, "WE'VE MADE IT HOME!"

I smiled and everyone greeted us. The children were still trying to hide behind us, but Erza refused to let them and kept pushing them forward. _Shy bunch, huh?_

"We have some new members," Gray announced with a smile.

Cana drunkenly came over with a bottle in her hands, "Ahh... Little kids? I need to teach you the best spots to drink…"

I sweat dropped and corrected Canna as fast as I could… "Umm…. Don't actually do that, okay? You're too young to drink…"

Macao and Wakaba walked over and said, "Aww…. They're all wizards, right?" Wakaba was talking like he was talking to a little kid.

Macao crossed his arms, "They look strong to me."

Wendy got up from her chair. She noticed Carla first, "Hey Carla! How was your date with Happy?"

Happy smiled widely at Carla while she turned away from him, "It was okay…"

Happy eyes shined with joy, "You mean it?!"

Carla shot him a small glare, "Don't get your hopes up, tom-cat."

Then Happy moped again.

"Who are these new little brats?" Master asked affectionately.

Natsu did his trademark wide smile and said, "They're the bandits we were supposed to defeat! Erza offered that they join here!"

Canna looked at us and teased, "I'm guessing this is the first job where you all _didn't _blow up anything?"

Gray rolled his eyes, "We wanted to fight more, but Erza settled it easily…"

Natsu yelled, "Yeah! We didn't get to do anything!"

Gray looked at Natsu skeptically, "Did you just agree with me, dummy?"

Natsu narrowed his eyes, "As if!"

"You did!"

"Did not!"

"Yes, you did!"

"No I didn't!"

"Yes!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"No!"

Erza lost it quickly, "Stop this. Now."

Natsu and Gray put their arms around each other and listened quickly, "Yes ma'am!"

I giggled. Fairy Tail is always Fairy Tail.

Master walked up to the children, "Nice to meet ya! I'm the guild's master, Mokarov."

The kids were hesitant, but one of the ones in front…. Reo… reached out his hand, "It's nice to meet you."

I looked around to see Erza missing, "Umm… Everyone… Where's Erza?"

Natsu and Gray got back to normal and looked around, Natsu scratched his head, "I don't know…"

Happy rested on his shoulder, "I don't know either."

All of our questions were answered when Erza came out of the bar with Mira holding a gigantic strawberry cake, giggling away.

"Ahh, I've been waiting for a chance to eat this!" Erza's voice was light.

I feel like she's going to be eating most of that… "Welcome back, everyone!" Mira greeted everyone like she always does.

When I looked over at Natsu, he had an uncomfortable Ritsu and Reo under his arms and was breathing fire, "Ready to party, Happy?!"

Happy flew above them, "Aye sir!"

The guild was quickly becoming the party space and or battleground it's known for, and my first instinct told me that I should stay out of this and defend Wendy…

She still doesn't know how to handle this… and I don't blame her…

Chairs were flying, tables were being turned, Natsu was fighting Gray, which caused at least something to be burned or frozen, and their fight dragged in everyone else…

The two girls who were fighting earler joined in with them, but all the rest of the kids stayed near the other bystanders.

Even though the kids were shy at first, a few seconds into the party I saw them talk and hang out like a normal member would. I smiled. _They'll fit in quickly here. _


	5. Chapter 4: Giant Trolls

Warning!: This chapter does have light spoilers for the Oracion Seis ark

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Chapter 4

Ritsu POV

I was exhausted from the party last night. I ended up staying at Natsu's house with Jason and Reo... Which wasn't much less chaotic than the guild... Natsu wouldn't stop questioning us and the place was a mess...

My sister is the messy twin, not me.

I kept scratching my head. This disguise is itchy, especially the wig covering my hair. I really want to take it off.

I looked at the job bored. My sister and I decided that we would go on a job together today to start making money to pay everyone back we stole from. Everyone else got into pairs too, but agreed if a job was too big to handle we would all work as a team. My sister walked over to me,

"You find a good one yet?"

"No, they're all easy, just getting things for people and breaking spells on things," I smiled, "you don't know how to break spells yet right?"

My sister looked up and starched her head, "Uh… It really depends on the spell, but I can break some." I sweat dropped. I expected more of a reaction….

My sister's eyes lit up, "I found a good one!"

She pointed at the job. It was exterminating a lot of trolls that were eating all the plants out of someone's garden. The client was paying 70,000 jewel for it. I looked up, trying to remember what a troll was.

Leah noticed my momentary lapse in memory and said, smiling, "They are small, cute animals that love to eat plants and sometimes other small animals. They can be little terrors though," she groaned, "…and annoying."

"That's a good deal, but wouldn't you like it to be more of a challenge?"

"Nah, it's our first job in a while," her eyes widened like she just remembered something, "you won't overestimate them and go overboard right?"

I did a small growl. I had the tendency to go overboard when I fought because I fight Hono on a regular basis without holding back. I almost always passed out during our fights. Despite knowing this, it still makes me angry when someone mentions it.

I rolled my eyes, "I'll try not to, but you need to promise me you won't fight more than you have too. _You _do have the tendency to do that."

It was her turn to roll her eyes, "You _have _to get payback don't you? I didn't say that to mess with you. I was genuinely concerned. "

I grumbled, "Let's just get going already. Where's the job?"

"The north forest. It's just to the north of Hargeon, remember?"

We walked over to Mira, who was taking job requests because Master was away at a conference. My sister handed the job to her,

"We'll like to take this one." She told her.

Mira smiled, like she always does, and replied cheerfully, "Ok! Your starting to pay back your debts right? Good luck!"

We smiled and nodded. With a wave, we headed to the train station. I heard groans from my sister, begging me for us to walk. Like Natsu and Gajeel, Leah had motion sickness, but hers was inherited. For me, by some stroke of luck, managed to only get motion sickness when I read. My only reply was a resounding, no.

My sister was _still _begging me as I went to the counter to buy our train tickets. I just kept saying no; again, and again, and again.

I dragged my sister by the collar of her new light blue T-shirt and brown vest that we bought earlier today to replace our old, ragged clothes from before onto the train. Though my sister wanted to change her outfit, I didn't have really _any_ desire to change my clothing style.

I found an empty seat and forced my sister to sit next to me in it. I was really tempted to chain her to the seat so she couldn't get away before the train started. That's what Mom had to do when she let Leah and me go on a job with Dad and her. (Not that Dad was any better than Leah)(At least Mom didn't have to chain him).

I grabbed Leah's arm, ready to pull her back, and or lightly freeze or burn her arm if she tried to escape. Let's face it, my sister is _strong_, pulling her back might not be enough.

I could already feel her trying to tug away from me. I pulled her back a little and stared at her intently. I could tell by her body language that she knew I was staring at her, but her attention was fixed at the door of the train.

Only a few seconds later did a feel a very hard tug against my grip, I lightly froze her arm; I would of lost my grip if I didn't. She winced and glared at me,

"What was that for?!" She grumbled at me angrily.

"We _are _taking the train, Leah. It's too far to walk to the north forest," I grumbled back.

She turned her back to me, "Humph."

…..

As soon as the train started, Leah pushed me out of the window seat onto the floor and started to gag outside the window. I felt frustration course through me, but I held it back. It's not like she can help it. Better outside than on me.

The rest of the train ride was like this. I'm sure the people behind us were staring the entire time. I got so bored that I pulled out my diary and started drawing a comic of the day so far. I felt myself get a little dizzy, but i ignored it. In a rare moment when my sister wasn't gaging, she gasped to me,

"You… know… Since you forced me to go on a train…. I might tell the guild that you are secretly keeping a manga diary…."

"LEAH, IF YOU DO THAT I'LL MURDER YOU!" I screamed at the top of my lungs. Many passengers on the train stared at me. I blushed and my sister laughed her head off before having the need to gag again. I glared at her.

Once we reached the station at Hargeon, my sister went on an hour-long rant about how she never wanted to ride a train again and how I forced her to go on one. When she talked about me forcing her on one my reply was, "Well, we're going home on one too so prepare yourself." That only made her rant more.

Our client was an older gentleman with a wrinkled face and salt and pepper hair, but he sported a thin stature that surprised me for his age. He wasn't a guild wizard after all. He lived alone with his wife and was obsessed with gardening and plants.

He told me that every night, a heard of trolls would eat up all the sprouts he planted the day before. He used a magical item that would make plants germinate and grow two to three times faster than normal, but even with that he never managed to grow anything with these trolls around. He told us that he was far too old to chase after trolls every night, and not near skilled enough.

"That's why I want you two to get rid of them, am I clear?" He said to us.

"Yes!" We both replied cheerfully.

"Right now the little rascals are in their burros sleeping. It would be pointless to search for them now. How about you two go fishing at the pond further in the forest? I have some fishing equipment you can use."

We both groaned before we could think not to. Our dad would take us fishing all the time, and we always complained about how boring it was. Despite our displeasure, Dad would never take no for an answer and say that it was part of being a man. My sister always asked why she was always taken along when she's a _girl _and not a _man_, but Dad would reply with, "Girls need to fish too. It's a part of growing up."

This man is a lot like our dad, "Oh, come on! I'll go with you; it makes me feel young again. Rima can make us snacks."

Our reply was a long, "ugh…" The middle-aged man invited us into his home and introduced us to his wife, Rima. During our fishing trip, we learned the man's name was Shoko, and he had two kids who were grown and married. He even had a grandson around our age. Mr. Shoko told us all of the travels his children went through, but his grandson mysteriously disappeared five years ago. No one has been able to find him since. Both my sister and I enjoyed his talks much more than the fishing.

...

Nightfall came quickly, and I could hear the buzzing of bugs as the sun continued to set. Mr. Shoko told us where in the forest he discovered the trolls living a few days ago. My sister and I walked through the forest to where we thought the man told us to go, but… after an hour or so of walking… we were lost.

"Ritsu do have any sense of direction?" she asked me with obvious distain.

"It's not like your any better," I said flatly, "if you had better sense of direction than me you would of led us there by now."

Leah glared at me, "Shut up."

We kept walking in the same direction, hoping to stumble across _something_. I actually started to space out and think, _This is taking forever, will we ever find them? _What snapped me out of it was my sister calling, "Ritsu!" and a couple thousand small trolls in all different shapes, sizes, and colors, pink being the dominant color, surrounding us. We went to work,

Leah placed a light silver magic circle on a nearby rock, "Change! Ally of monsters!"

Immediately, that rock and many others around it changed into a hoard of giant rock monsters ready to wreck havoc. Leah shouted out commands.

Now it was my turn, I enclosed my fists in fire and ice and yelled, "Frozenflame Dragon Wing attack!"

In those first few seconds, a thousand or so were wiped out. I felt a little guilty for killing them all though, they're still living creatures, but a job's a job. Leah and I remained in our fighting stances to continue wiping out the rest, but we could barely believe what we saw after.

All the remaining trolls grew ten or more feet in height and charged at us.

I _never _remembered trolls having the ability to do this. The only trolls I've ever heard about were _drawn _by another dark guild while Team Natsu and the allied guilds were taking down the Oracion Sais. Mom and Dad told us stories, but they didn't tell us _this_. Natural trolls must be different.

My gaze sharpened and could feel magic power starting to leak out of me as I prepared to take down these monsters. My sister was doing the same.

"Let's do this."


	6. Chapter 5: The Man with Snow White Hair

Chapter 5

Ritsu POV

Leah and I continued to stare down the giant trolls. My sister attacked first,

She drew a magic circle on one of her rock monsters, "Change! Rock cannon!"

In less than a second later, the rock monster changed into a gigantic medieval cannon. Instead of a wheel in the back to open it and put ammunition in it, it was closed up with a long rope hanging out of it. Leah placed her hands on it and pulled. That motion caused a bolder the with of three of the nearby trees and the height of one, to shoot out of the cannon.

The rock went straight through him, exploding when it touched the ground. Our eyes widened. "H-how is this possible?" I asked my sister, shocked.

"I-I don't know… Trolls can't do this. Natural or not," she replied, apparently having the same thoughts I had.

Leah composed herself much faster than I did. She placed her hands on her cannon and silently changed it, and the rest of the ground under us, to a landscape of pointy rocks. All the trolls jumped and growled, trying not to get poked.

I wouldn't give them the time of day. I ignited fire under my feet and jumped high into the air. I drew my breath into my cheeks, "Frozenflame Dragon Roar!"

A powerful blast of concentrated ice and fire poured down on the now panicking trolls. Most of them started to disappear; however, it went through some of them like the first troll Leah hit. _What's going on? _I thought.

The few remaining trolls had to deal with the spiked ground that Leah created. As soon as they reached the ground, the jumped right back up with howls of pain.

Still keeping myself in the air, I expanded the flames that I was using to keep myself afloat and bent my arms as backwards as they could go. I changed the jets of fire from my feet to my hands and condensed the fire coming from my feet into long tubes. I wrapped the tubes around the remaining trolls and whipped myself forward, almost doing a flip.

The trolls flew through the air into the distance. I felt myself relax. I didn't know the fight made me so tense. Leah's gaze softened and I could see her posture relaxing. It must have made her tense too. My sister looked at me with a wide smile, "Now that might be the most interesting fight we've had in a while."

I smiled and nodded. "How about we go tell Mr. Shoko that we got rid of all the trolls?" I asked her, ready to go and complete this job.

"Uhh... Ritsu... Look below you," Leah pointed towards the ground.

"What?" I looked down and cringed.

The ground was grassless and all the trees that used to be near us were gone, and some of the surrounding trees were on fire...

It was a wreck...

"Don't tell me..." I breathed, "I didn't do that right?..."

Leah crossed her arms, "You did most of it. Didn't I ask you not to go overboard?"

"You did some of it!"

"I said _most _of it was done by you, I wasn't excluding myself."

"Just let it go, Leah. Let's hope Mr. Shoko will still pay us..."

"Might as well," Lead agreed exhaustedly, "I did _not _expect this when I saw this job request earlier. Can trolls really do that?"

I frowned in concentration, "I don't know. I never remembered them doing that, and now that I think about it, are they supposed to be that aggressive?" I looked at my sister with a sly smile, "Those were natural you know."

My sister's gaze sharpened, "Don't you think I already know that? I said 'natural or not' during the fight. It's implied!"

"I know that, but do you seriously think I get every implied thing you say?"

I could see Leah's body tense up, "Ritzu we can fight at the guild hall. I already have to deal with a train in my future."

"Since when are you not willing to fight someone?"

Leah walked over and punched me in the arm, "Just shut up, Ritsu."

…..

The sun was rising during the walk back. The walk itself was…overbearing with my sister ranting to me about any topic that came to her mind. I never completely understood why when Leah was bored, her mind always turned to talking when books weren't around. The only words I managed to get out in reply were, "yes," "no," and "I don't know."

Mr. Shoko was outside gardening when we reached his house. He waved as soon as he saw us. I jerked back as Leah grabbed my arm and pulled me with her as she jogged up to meet him. She told him about the trolls eagerly, "We've gotten rid of all the trolls for you, Mr. Shoko. They're either a hundred miles away or dead."

"Great job you two," he replied with pleasure, "I'll go get your pay." Mr. Shoko dropped his gardening tools and walked over to his small, wooden house.

"Umm... Wait, Mr. Shoko..." I admitted with my hands behind my back, "We kind of destroyed some of the forest while doing the job..."

Mr. Shoko stopped dead in his tracks, sighed and turned around, "It's not like I want the forest destroyed, but it's not like money will force it to grow back."

"So, we're still getting paid?" Leah asked hopefully.

He smiled, "Of course, you did your job. Rima will be upset, but it's expected of Fairy Tail wizards..."

My face showed my surprise, _Someone actually understands that our guild's destructive?... That's a first... _

"Ritsu," Leah exclaimed excitedly, "we're getting paid in full! Upfront no less! No one has ever done that during one of Mom and Dad's jobs!"

Ahh… how should I say this? "Well… Mom and Dad's jobs usually have more pay…"

My sister just brushed it off, "Shut up Ritsu, you're ruining my moment."

Mr. Shoko returned fairly quickly from his house with the 70,000 jewel that was posted on his job request. He handed it to me and gave two pastries to Leah.

"My wife made them yesterday before you arrived. She'd want you to have them. You're welcome here any time."

We smiled and thanked him generously for the work, money, and snack. Almost immediately after we started our walk to the train station, my sister asked me, getting into begging mode, "Do we _really _have to take a train?"

I'm not going to give in to this, "We are taking the train Leah. I'm not walking."

Leah goaned and moped along until we got to the train station. I had a tight grip on her arm as I went up to the ticket desk to buy our tickets. When I pulled away to get us to the front door of our train, I jerked back.

My sister was standing there refusing to move. I felt anger making its way through me, "Leah, do you really want to go through this?"

Leah didn't budge and the look in her eyes told me she wasn't going to soon. I sighed. I really did have to go through this every time we went on a train together. I walked over to where she was standing, lifted her off the ground, and carried her on my back to the train. She didn't say a word the entire time.

When we were settled on the train, I realized something was different about my backpack. When I opened the front flap to see if Leah did anything to it, a boxing glove punched me in the face. Before I got the chance to yell at her, a dozen or more boxing gloves appeared and punched me in the face. I glared at my sister, who this time I gave the window seat too, her back was turned to me staring outside the window.

I surrendered immediately; it wasn't worth it to get in a fight on a train. My face was a light pink from all the punches those boxing gloves gave me, but I ignored it and started drawing today's events in my diary that I hide in my backpack. It was only a few minutes until I heard sick groans from my sister.

Leah spent the whole train ride with her head out of the window, but the noise from her gagging was quieter this time so the other passengers didn't really notice. I spent my train ride drawing like I normally did, ignoring the light dizziness in my head.

When the train reached Magnolia, Leah came back to life and sighed, "It's finally over."

I put away my diary and pulled my backpack over my shoulders. Leah practically skipped off the train and I gave the conductor our tickets and thanked him for the ride. My sister was waiting for me outside the train. She grabbed my arm again and pulled me towards Fairy Tail. Leah was trying to run, but my jogging to keep up with her was keeping her back. I scanned the streets, looking at the citizens resuming their lives. I felt someone's eyes on us.

"Hey Leah, do you feel like someone's watching us?" I asked her, still feeling watched.

Leah was way to happy to be off the train to be on guard, "No, I feel fine," she replied evenly.

I continued to scan the buildings. Right when the guild hall was in sight, I saw a shady figure hiding in the buildings nearest to us. It looked like a man of average height wearing a black cloak. I could see strands of snow white hair peaking out of the cloak, but I couldn't see his facial features.

_Is this the guy I felt watching me? _I wondered silently.

I looked ahead of us. We were less than fifteen feet away from the guild hall entrance.

_I guess I talk about it with the others later._


	7. Chapter 6: Tranquil Island

Warning! This has light spoilers for the Galuna Island arc.

* * *

Chapter 6

Gary POV

"Come on Gary! I want to take on a job!" I heard a voice.

"Come on! Are you planning on sleeping all day?" Ugh…it's too much work to get up.

Now I heard screams and the beginning of sobs, "JULIA WANTS TO GO ON A JOB!"

I can't take it anymore, "WHAT DO YOU WANT?" I yelled at Julia angrily.

"Julia wants to go on a job," she repeated with a more cheerful tone.

I sat up and sighed. I was perfectly content on sleeping the whole day, "Well, what job do you want to take?"

"I don't know yet, I haven't looked at the board."

"Then _go _and find one."

"But I want you to come help…" Julia started to pout.

I could feel my body starting to tense up, "Fine," there's no point in arguing.

"YAY!" Julia grabbed my hand from the guild hall table I fell asleep on, and pulled me to towards the job board.

I looked up at the job board once she let go of me. If she's going to make me take on a job right now, might as well choose one I like. As I was scanning the available jobs, my eyes widened. This one is perfect. I reached for the job, but someone's scream and arm prevented me from doing so.

"This one's perfect Gary!" Julia's arms were wrapped around a job listing that I know wasn't the one I wanted. "It's about taking a curse off of someone's house!"

That wasn't perfect at all, "Uh. Julia. We don't know how to break curses, and that job isn't nearly as cool as the one I found.

Julia kept on smiling, "So?"

"Julia we can't do this job! How many times do I have to tell you? We can't break curses! Leah might, but she and Ritsu are on a job right now!"

Now Julia's smile turned into a frown, "But Julia wants too…"

"WE'RE NOT TAKING THIS JOB!" I almost screamed. A few of my guild mates looked at me, and I blushed a little.

5, 4, 3, 2, and 1

"JULIA WANT'S TO!" Julia screamed at the top of her lungs and started crying. I could hear the start of raindrops and thunder.

"Was it going to rain today?" I heard Macao ask Wakaba a few tables away.

"Not that I've heard," Wakaba replied.

"Maybe Gray left Juvia again."

"Who knows…"

_ I have to put a stop to this. _"Julia will you please just see the job I picked out? It's right up your ally." I asked her, hoping it would make her stop.

"Really?" She replied wiping tears from her eyes.

"Yes, it's perfect for _both _of us," I tore the job listing from the job bored, "it's fixing the strange weather patterns on an island and bringing everything back to normal."

Julia's face beamed with happiness, "I like this job! Let's go!"

We walked up to Mira and told her we were talking the job. She wished us luck and a few minutes later we were on our way to the nearest port.

….

It took all I had to keep Julia happy so she wouldn't mess up the weather. It was almost like everything I said would make her want to cry.

"Julia your going the wrong way," I grumbled, wondering why I let her lead the way in the first place.

"No I'm not," she replied with her head in the air.

"Yes you are," I replied not changing my tone of voice at all.

I could tell I was getting on her nerves, "No I'm not," she repeated.

"Yes you are."

"No I'm not."

"Yes you are."

"I told you I'm not."

"I told you, you were."

Then she finally exploded, "I'M NOT!" Her scream shook the ground. I sighed, if I didn't do something, we could have an earthquake on our hands.

"I'll let you lead us home if you let me get us there, ok?" I compromised.

"Fine…" was her answer.

After Julia finally let me lead the way, we got to the port in the town over. It was actually a short walk, but Julia's horrible direction skills made it _much _longer than it needed to be. We walked up to a dock that a man was cleaning his boat on to ask if he could take us to the island. I looked into the distance and saw an island that was no mistake the one we needed to go to. I could hardly believe it.

It was a relatively large island not very far from the dock. There were milky white clouds covering the entire island, it almost looked fogy. They looked like snow clouds. It's _spring _right now, and the forest on the island looks tropical.

I walked up to the man who was cleaning his boat, Julia following, and asked him, "Hey, do you know what's up with that island over there?" I pointed towards the island.

"That's Tranquil Island, before now it reflected its name," the man replied solemnly, "I have family over there, but now people are saying that it's cursed just like Galuna a few months ago. You can see why."

"When did this start?" I asked him.

"Five years ago," the man replied after I barely got to finish my sentence.

"For that long?" Julia asked, surprise laced in her voice.

The man nodded.

_Just ask him to take us_, "Would you mind taking us over?" I asked the man carefully. With the island cursed, who knows who will take us. He might be our only chance.

The man was silent for a minute and stared at the ground, probably thinking. He replied, "Well… I'm not a farmer anyway… So I'll take you. It would be nice to see my family again.

Julia and I smiled one of the most genuine smiles we've done in a while and we thanked the man. He held our hands as we tried (and failed) to board on his tiny rowboat. The ride there was full of silence. Apparently, this man wasn't much of a talker, but my sister did ask him a question. "What does being a farmer have to do with the island's curse?" she asked him, probably out of curiosity.

The man looked at her blankly and replied, "The curse supposedly is that whoever goes on the island will bring bad weather wherever they live. People are afraid if anyone goes there, they'll bring strange weather patterns on the island back with them."

Julia nodded in understanding and I sat there silently, debating on taking another nap. I already had my shirt off because it felt like a hundred degrees here and I dislike shirts. I don't really know why, they just feel uncomfortable to me. I'm actually surprised I didn't take it off before now.

I felt a chill once we were a few miles away from the island. I saw that the man was shivering as he continued to row us towards the island. My sister and I felt fine; we've dealt with _much _colder situations than this.

I saw the beginnings of houses when we were almost at the shore of the island, which was covered with a thick blanket of snow. Palm trees were also covered with snow, and there were dead, brown tropical flowers and plants everywhere. I couldn't help but wonder,

_ What's causing this?_


	8. Chapter 7: The Chief of Tranquil Village

Chapter 7

Gary POV

The man who was rowing us shivered even more once we were at the shore of the island. The man pulled up a rope with hole tied with a knot from the bottom of the boat. It looked exactly like a western lasso; it made me think of Bisca and Alsack. He grabbed onto one of the polls of an old, moldy looking dock that he rowed up to and hooked the rope around it, securing the boat to the dock. It was snowing for the last ten minutes of the ride, and the boat was slippery. For a second, that knowledge escaped my mind completely as I refused the man's help in getting out of the boat. Before I knew it, I slipped on the boat, hit my back on its side, and fell into the very cold ocean.

My only response to this was an "uph…" when I hit the side of the boat. I could hear my sister calling into the water in a panic. I thought I heard the man too, but my sister was calling so loud that it was the only thing I could really hear.

I opened my eyes immediately once I hit the water, ignoring the stinging in my eyes once I opened them. I saw that there were no living animals in the water. They were all dead. _Even more strange…. Must have been the change in the water temperature. _I could feel my body starting to go numb, but I pushed the feeling away. Numbness wouldn't kill me; I've braved a snowstorm bare chested.

My whole body clinched up; I was running out of breath! I swam up to the surface with a form that would make a swimming instructor want to cry. I took in a large breath once I made it to the surface. The old dock was close, but in the distance. Julia was looking over the edge doing an excited dance. The man stood there motionless and I was too far to see his facial expression.

I swam over to the dock as fast as my numb body would allow me. The man was standing there waiting for me; his expression just as blank as before. He lowered his hand and this time I grabbed it eagerly. He pulled me up to the dock with strength I didn't know he had. My sister spoke once I was safely on the dock,

"Gary, why did you do that?!" she shouted at me angrily, "did you want to prove something?! I was so worried…"

"I wanted to get out myself." I interrupted her, frustration heavy in my voice.

That did nothing to calm her, "Still! That's not the time, didn't you know the boat was slippery?" I could feel the breeze kick up a little.

"It left my mind for a second," I replied not wanting to surrender. I know we might have a tornado if I don't stop, but right now I don't care.

The breeze kept getting harder, "But… I was worried… I thought you might of died…"

"Julia, just when did you think I can't handle myself in the cold?" I looked over to the man. I saw no change in him; just as blank as before.

"I forgot…" Then she erupted, "DON'T YOU CARE ABOUT JULIA'S FEELINGS?!" The breeze got so fast that it started circling itself, and before I knew it there was a huge tornado coming right at me.

I sighed, maybe this wasn't worth it.

I lifted my arms letting them be as loose as they can. I felt my magic power flow into my hands. The dead tropical vines on the ground changed their color from brown to green and shot upwards. I pushed the vines as high as they could go and encircled the tornado. I felt snow and sand creep up my heel as I felt myself being pushed back. Before the tornado broke through my defense, the screams of my sister stopped and the wind resumed its normal speed. I let go of the breath I didn't realize I was holding in.

When I looked up, I saw the man across from me stare wide eyed. "You two are wizards?" he asked us, his first words in the last hour.

My face brightened, "Yeah we are. We're here to take the curse off of the island."

"Yeah! We probably should have told you earlier…" Julia chimed in.

For a second, I thought I could see a smile on the man's face, "I'll take you to the village," he said to us softly. The man started walking through the snow covered, tropical forest and we followed a few steps behind.

It was still snowing and Julia and I tried to catch snowflakes in our mouths. Snow was a rarity to us. Other than areas for training, we've always lived in the areas around Magnolia, and every place we tried to search for pieces of _that _were always too warm for snow, or it was spring or summer there at the time.

Julia was humming a little tune as she bent down and made a snowball from a patch of fresh snow when we took a break from walking. I was standing in another patch making one for myself. Julia; however, hit me with hers before I finished making mine.

_Oh, so you want to have a snowball fight? _I thought deviously, _I'm game. _

A few minutes later, we had tiny snow forts and enough snowball ammunition to last an hour. My fort was just high enough for me to duck under it and I had a huge pile of snowballs to my right. Every time my sister would try and throw a snowball at me, I would hide behind my fort and counter attack with one of my own. Julia managed to build her fort to her height standing (with the cost of a few hits). She would hide behind it with her arms clasped to her sides and every time she had the opportunity to attack me she would take two snowballs from two smaller piles on each side and throw them at me. We both laughed loudly in our fun.

During one of my attacks, I saw the man smiling at us trying to stifle a laugh and failing at it. I smiled deviously and threw a snowball right at him. He flinched as it made contact, he obviously didn't expect it. I did a small evil laugh once I saw his face. It was like he was caught talking in the middle of a lesson.

The man shrugged sheepishly and started making a snowball. I was his first target. He clearly has never had a snowball fight before. He missed me by a mile, but if it hit me it would of hit hard. He had a good arm. A few seconds later, he was the newest player in or snowball fight. The man was laughing and smiling with us, and he got a lot better as he played.

But once the fight was over, the man's face resumed its blank state and his laughter silenced. He continued to lead us through the forest, and surprisingly Julia didn't feel the need to break the silence. Maybe she respected his silent ways now.

The man pushed through a bush with some of the largest leaves I've ever seen to reveal the houses I saw when we were approaching the island.

They were a respectable size and looked like they were made from the wood from the palm trees I saw on the beach. The wood was so light that it had a creamy color. Dead tropical trees and plants decorated the village. Tropical flowers that lost their color were in outside pots that looked homespun. There were people everywhere. Mothers were watching and teaching their small children, some of which were running around without supervision. The older children were either doing chores, helping out with the smaller children, or work of their respective trade.

The man led us to the one house that was different than the others. It was a large tent with ancient symbols written just above where the opening was. The village citizens stared at us with an air of curiosity that I didn't like. I heard mumbles from the younger children as their mothers pulled them closer. It was like we were creatures from another planet.

The man opened the flaps of the tent without so much of a warning for the people inside. On the inside of the tent, there was carpeting made of animals skins. An old man was sitting in the middle of the carpet. His hair was almost as white as the snow around us, and his face was covered with wrinkles that showed his age. He was very tan, almost brown like everyone else in the village. I couldn't really see his eyes, but they looked hazel to me. The old man's clothing was torn cloth pants and a long necklace with a pendant that resembled the one of the symbols on the front of the tent. He was shoeless, but I saw sandals on the floor near him. The man glanced at him and then introduced the old man to us,

"This is Oren. Chief of Tranquil Village."


	9. Chapter 8: Helena and Sakan

Chapter 8

Gary POV

The chief looked at us blankly for a while. It felt like his eyes were cutting through me. I looked up at the man; he was returning the chief's stare with even greater intensity. I squirmed, feeling uncomfortable

I could tell Julia was feeling uncomfortable too. Her usual cheerful, sleepish smile was gone and replaced with a natural frown. Julia cleared her throat before speaking; she spoke carefully,

"We're the wizards from Fairy Tail. We're here to fix the weather. You do remember sending that request right?"

The chief remained silent

Julia spoke again, "Um… Sir… Can you give us some information about what's going on? Like when it started?"

The chief still refused to say a word.

"Sir?..."

I glanced up at the man. His eyes were sharpening into a glare so intense that I could almost feel the tenseness in his body; he spoke to Julia with an angry, low voice,

"Julia, the chief will answer you eventually. Stop pushing him."

Julia flinched at his comment. Until now every occasional moment when he would say something, his voice would be soft with little emotion. To my surprise, I had to relax after his voice disappeared. I also chastised myself. _This guy shouldn't scare me. I don't even know what he's capable of. All I know is that he's quiet and has a good arm. That's all. _

The chief adjusted his sitting position and finally spoke with a voice so soft that it rivaled the man's, "Give her a break Sakan. She's never even _been _to this island before. Do you expect her _not_ to be impolite?"

I could feel myself getting angry at the chief's comment. My sister wasn't trying to be impolite. I spoke up as politely as I could muster, but I let some of my anger show in my tone, "Sir. She wasn't trying to be impolite. If you are ready, can you give us the story of how this all started?"

The chief stared at me so intensely that almost all of my previous anger drained out of me, but I refused to let that show in my facial features. Despite his intense almost glare at me; he still spoke with an extremely soft voice. I could barely hear it.

"Might as well," he sighed, "It's not like I have much hope of it being fixed anyway."

My sister and I stared at him attentively, ready to hear how all this started.

"It all started four years ago. It was in the summertime. Everyone was getting ready to harvest for the summer harvest feast. Everyone was looking forward to it; everyone always did…" he paused and his posture tensed, "the day before the feast, everyone woke up the island's first snow shower in history. The children were ecstatic, and even though everyone knew it was unusual, we didn't care.

We were worried when the snow didn't stop or go away. Every plant started to die. The summer flowers were dead by the end of the first day, but even the non-tropical trees and bushes died. Not knowing what else to do, we sent Sakan here to give a job request to the Fairy Tail guild. After waiting for two and a half years, we all just gave up, and I regretted ever sending that job request to begin with."

The chief's words made me angry; did they really loose hope that fast? I felt my gaze sharpen and my shaggy bangs sliding in front of my eyes. Julia though, was more sympathetic. She placed her hands on her hips and said cheerfully, "Well, we're here to fix it. Your two and a half years of waiting are over!"

The chief looked down solemnly and replied, "Do whatever you want. If you want more information, go ask Helena. She knows more than I do."

The cheerful look on Julia's face was gone, and the chief's attitude made me even angrier.

I felt Sakan's eyes on me. He could probably tell I was upset, "Chief, I will take them to my sister." He said calmly to the chief.

"Very well then," he replied with the same soft, solemn tone, "let them try."

I started to shake with anger. I clinched my fists and was about to yell at the old man until Sakan's firm grasp pulled me out of the tent. Julia followed silently.

Once we were outside, I let all of my pent up anger pour out, "Why does he have such a _bad_ attitude about this?! We're here to help! At least give us a little faith! We're wizards!"

Sakan's reply showed no emotion, "He did have hope before. When the people started getting distressed was when he started to loose hope. The fact that he's letting you try is a feat in itself."

That did nothing to dissolve my frustration and my eyes got even sharper, "I don't care. We will show him that he was wrong to give up. We will."

My statement seemed to cheer Julia up, "Yeah! We'll show him!"

Sakan flashed us a rare small smile, "I'd like to believe you. I think you'll like my sister. She's much more hopeful than any other villagers."

My frustration finally lifted after he said this. _At least someone has some hope on this island. _

Sakan lead Julia and me to the heart of the village. There were a lot more dead flowers there, and there was a very large well that I assumed was their drinking water. When I looked inside, I saw that the water had frozen over. It was only now that I felt a little sympathy for the villagers. They've probably gone with little water for years.

Sakan stopped at a medium sized house made from the same light wood as the other houses. He knocked a simple three-note tune on the rectangle doorframe. It was only a second later when we saw a young woman who looked like she was in her mid thirties. Similar to Sakan, who had pitch-black hair and dark eyes, she had very dark wavy brown hair ending just below the shoulders, but her eyes were a forest green. Also like Sakan, her skin didn't resemble the tan color of the others. She was almost completely pale. She was wearing a brightly colored light sundress like many of the other women in the village. She met Sakan's emotionless gaze with a glare.

"What took you so long to get back, _Sakan_?! You know other than mother and father, who live _very far away, _you're the last bit of family I have on this island!"

Sakan's only response was a light sigh and an exhausted introduction, "Nice to see you too Helena. I think you'll be happy to meet these two children"

Sakan stepped back to reveal us to Helena. Man, this woman really reminded me of Leah. Helena crossed her arms and said, annoyance in her tone, "Well, then introduce them."

Sakan pushed Julia and me forward, "This is Gary and Julia, they're Fairy Tail wizards. They're here to fix the curse."

Helena's eyes immediately brightened and pulled Julia and me through the door. Her voice was full of excitement, "You two are wizards here to lift the curse? Don't mind my rudeness to my brother. Come inside!"

Julia's face had a bright smile on it. Helena clearly made a good first impression on her. I was still in a bad mood because of the chief, but at lease Helena's cheerful attitude made it better.

Julia spoke first with just as much excitement as Helena, "I really like your house! It's so cute and cozy." Julia wrapped herself in the brown, cloth blanket that Helena gave her. Both Sakan and I stared at her intently. I could feel my gaze piercing though her, but both she and Julia continued to smile and chatter cheerfully between themselves.

Helena gave two dark green blankets to both me and Sakan, and we both were sitting strait up letting the blanket hang loosely on our shoulders. Helena gave us a look and said cheerfully, "You two are so alike."

I blushed and replied to her before I could think not to, my voice was full of embarrassment, "I am not!"

Helena and Julia giggled and Sakan rolled his eyes at me. I growled and sunk into my blanket, glaring at the floor. After a while, I looked at Julia to let her know we were here on a job, not a visit. She rolled her eyes at me, but clearly understood what I meant and changed her conversation with Helena to the task at hand,

"I'm sorry to cut our conversation short, but we came here to ask you something. Can you give us an explanation of this "curse" your island is under? Your chief gave us some background information, but it wasn't enough to offer much help. He told us to ask you for more information."

Helena's face changed from a cheerful one to a sad one, "Five years ago, my son mysteriously disappeared and my husband abandoned me a few months later. He took everything from the food to our picture albums. I moved to the island a month after that, " she paused for a second, but continued soon after, "Sakan was living with us, so he moved with me. After getting adjusted to the island, like we did with our other travels, we started to enjoy life here, but my son never left my mind. The villagers were telling me to give up on finding him. I looked almost everyday, even though I knew he probably wasn't here."

I felt my bangs rush in front of my face again; she had a similar problem to our guild's dragon slayers minus the fact that she was married and it was her son she was looking for. I felt sympathy for her, but I hid it as she continued,

"Then one day it started to snow," she had a small smile on her face, "I was so excited that I didn't care how unusual it was. It reminded me of the mountains Sakan and I've traveled in before. Sakan didn't really care though. He just stayed in the house the entire time.

When the other villagers started to believe that we were cursed and thought wizards were pointless, I continued to hope. Even my brother lost hope." Sakan flinched at Helena's comment, but he said nothing, "One day when I was searching for my son again, I noticed a small, human-like figure up on a mountain shooting something into the snow clouds. When I managed to climb the mountain enough to meet him, he was gone…"

"Where's the mountain?" I interrupted her, my voice quick with an idea.

"I'm _getting _there," she replied with annoyance. Then looked up to the ceiling and scratched her head, "ugh, where was I?"

"The mountain?" Julia offered helpfully.

"Oh yeah," she continued her story, "the mountain is on the north side of the village. Maybe if you figure out who or what this figure is and beat him, you might stop the crazy weather patterns on the island."

I felt a rush of excitement that was difficult to conceal, "We'll try that. Thanks a lot."

Julia spent no energy trying to conceal her emotions, "That's fantastic Helena! And as a bonus, with our powers, when the source is wiped out, we can fix the island immediately!"

"You can do that?" Helena asked with awe.

"Of course we can! Why do you think we took this job? Gary uses plant magic I use weather manipulation magic!" Julia replied with even more cheerfulness and enthusiasm that normal.

Helena gave us a big, bright smile and Sakan was smiling too, but he was trying to hide it in his blanket.

Julia grabbed my arm and said to me excitedly, "Come on Gary! You and Julia's got this in the bag!"

I couldn't agree with her more.


	10. Chapter 9: The Opponent in the Shadows

Chapter 9

Gary POV

Julia and I left the village as quickly as we could, I couldn't stand the stares from the villagers. When I looked over at Julia to see her reaction to them, she was a little slumped over, but she still seemed very excited. So excited that she was practically dragging me along, and I was jogging at least.

The light snow from the village started to change into a small blizzard when we approached the mountain range. My jog started to turn into a run so I could keep up with Julia and not be dragged the entire time. I was starting to get irritated with it. _If she drags me any more… _Julia stopped before I could finish.

I crashed right into her back, and it _hurt_. "Julia, what the heck?!" I yelled at her, even more frustrated.

She didn't even blink as she pointed up at the sky and said, her voice filled with awe, "Look at that…"

I looked at where her finger was pointing and I froze, "What is that?..."

It was an extremely large cloud that almost looked more blue than white. On the tallest mountain was one of the largest magic circles I've ever seen. I could tell just by looking at it that it was a water magic circle. A very large and powerful blast of concentrated water was coming from the magic circle. Once it disappeared into the blue cloud it looked like the blast immediately froze and settled into the cloud. Just as we were standing there the buzzard was getting harder. I got ahold of myself sooner than Julia,

"Julia!" I turned around to her quickly with a serious look on my face, "that must be the source of the weather changes! It has to be!"

Julia was still a little bewildered when she replied, "Yeah… It's definitely it…" she finally composed herself and her face returned to normal, "let's go Gary!"

I nodded back quickly and we sprinted toward the base of the tallest mountain. Reality hit me once we were a few steps from the mountain base. Julia and I did _not _have the ability to climb this…. And if this is the mountain Helena climbed in her story, I'm surprised she_ could_. I was starting to loose hope until I came up with a fantastic idea.

Julia was standing there in her own little world so she probably couldn't hear me, but I voiced my idea anyway, "Hey Julia, I know a great way to get to the top of this thing without killing ourselves."

She snapped back into reality, "Really?"

"Yeah, I can use my plant magic to use some of the nearby plants as an elevator." I pointed at some of the dead vine plants edging the mountain.

"I think that'll work," Julia replied sincerely with a small smile.

I smiled back at her and prepared to work my magic. I stood directly in front of the plants I wanted to use. I walked over to them and pushed magic power into my hands causing two small, green magic circles to appear. I placed my hands onto the dead plants. I felt my magic power drain from my body as the brown color of the plants turned green.

Once the plants were back to full health, I merged the two small magic circles on my hands into one. I slowly pulled them apart and the plants started to grow. I watched the plants closely to make sure I didn't make them too big or too small. Once I was sure they was big and strong enough to carry both Julia and me, I walked onto the now large pile of plants and gestured to Julia to walk over.

Julia climbed on carefully, like she was afraid the plants wouldn't hold her. I was a little irritated by her lack of trust, but I didn't dwell on it. Once she was safely on the plants, I got into a deep squat. I could feel both the weight of myself and my sister, so to make sure I got us high enough, I shot upward as hard as I could.

The plants shot upwards at least fifty miles per hour. Julia was screaming and holding onto the plants for dear life, and I did my best not to collapse under all the weight I was pushing against.

When we got to the top of the mountain, my muscles felt like jelly and the breath I didn't realize I was holding released itself. Julia let out a sigh of relief and hurried off the plants. I felt so dizzy from all that weight on me that I really couldn't see where I was going. Before I knew it, I felt Julia's tight pull and a quick gasp,

"Gary you almost fell!" Julia exclaimed concerned.

I was still dizzy, "Really?"

"Yes, you did!" Julia sounded exasperated, but I knew she'd never admit it if I asked her.

"Well, sorry," That was one of the few times I've ever apologized to anyone. For some reason, "sorry" didn't usually cross my mind.

"It's fine," she replied quickly, "let's see whose magic circle this is."

I nodded after I felt some recovery from my dizziness. Julia looked closely at the magic circle,

"This is definitely a water magic circle… You can tell by the color and patterning…." Julia said as she examined the circle.

I walked over to the magic circle to have a look for myself. When I saw it up close, I had no doubt that Julia was right. I also noticed something else, this mountain wasn't actually a mountain, it was a _volcano. _

"Hey Julia," I asked her questioningly, "Have you noticed that this _mountain _is a _volcano_?"

She was very absorbed with this magic circle, "No, are you…" she looked down, "oh…"

I sighed in her lack of observation and she gave me a small glare, but she quickly surrendered and looked over the edge and into the volcano. I did too.

The magic circle on the top of the volcano wasn't the only one that was creating the blast. There were three more water magic circles identical to the top one inside the volcano. My eyes were wide.

"Julia…" I said with awe, "we need to investigate this volcano…"

"Yeah…" she replied with as much awe as me.

I used my magic to thread the plants we used to get up to the top of the mountain into a long rope. Julia and I climbed down slowly to avoid being caught in the blast. I even felt a little fear, and I was insulting myself for being so. Once we were half way down the rope. My chest, hands, and arms started getting itchy. _Are some of the plants I used poison ivy? _I wanted to scratch myself so badly that I was starting to sweat, and there's a _blizzard _outside. It took all my willpower to hold my desire in until we reached the bottom. Once we were finally at the bottom, I scratched myself to my heart's content. Julia started laughing at me.

"Gary, I think you have poison ivy. Your skin's getting red."

I gave her a death glare as I continued to scratch myself.

Julia walked over and grabbed my arms, "You should stop scratching," she said, her laughter gone.

I continued to glare at her, "I don't want to," I said defiantly

"You should," she repeated

"I don't want to."

"But you should."

"I told you I don't want to."

Julia was starting to really loose her patience, "Well I say you should…"

"But I'm not."

"WELL JULIA SAYS YOU SHOULD!" she screamed at me at the top of her lungs and yanked me into the volcano wall.

My only response was a "umph" and a harsh glare, but that did encourage me to stop scratching myself.

We walked around the circular cavern of the volcano without touching the blast. I noticed that there was an opening to what looked like a cave. There was a magic circle coming out of it too in a sideways direction instead of a vertical one. '

"Hey Julia," I pointed to the sideways circle, "can you block it with your magic?"

Julia nodded eagerly, "Of course I can!"

Both my sister and I knew three different types of magic; one of them being water magic. I stood back out of her way still resisting the temptation to itch.

Julia drew her own magic circle right in front of the one blocking the cave entrance. The water immediately started to back up in the cave, and before long half of the volcano was destroyed because of the pressure of the water.

When all of the ash and debris of the destruction lifted, there was nothing there.

My senses told me otherwise and before I got the time to react, a large blast of fire scorched my back and I heard Julia's screams in the distance.

I snapped around and yelled at the wizard, "Where are you? You want to fight?" I was ready to brawl and teach this guy a lesson.

I ran around the base of the volcano trying to find the guy and noticed that the ground Julia was previously standing on was disturbed. _How many kinds of elemental magic does this guy know? _

I didn't have much time to look. I saw my sister being destroyed with air magic by a figure around my height that was flying so fast I couldn't get a good look at him.

Julia finally went on the offensive. She lifted her hands up to the sky and water and lighting circles started to appear over us, she exclaimed, "Weather control! Lighting storm!"

Rain and lighting started to rein down on the volcano. I think Julia forgot I was still on the volcano base for a second, because I probably had to put in as much effort to dodge her lightning bolts as the wizard guy did.

I was wrong. I heard a whisper of kid behind me and I felt the light of fire magic circles behind me. He continued to whisper, "Volcanic eruption…"

Before I got the chance to get a good look at my opponent, I felt the ground below me start to heat up. I climbed up my makeshift rope as fast as I could before the volcano erupted. When I made it to the top, Julia was falling from the sky and conveniently landed in my arms. I jerked back at her impact with my eyes wide.

I did not have time to dwell on what just happened. I jumped off the mountain and used my water magic to make the volcano's side slick, so I could skid down the mountain.

Earthquakes were starting when about ten feet or so from the bottom, and right before I reached the bottom the volcano started spilling out lava by the masses.

Without thinking, I ran at new speeds from the volcano in effort to save our lives. While I was running, I noticed that Julia was passed out, and the only person with us right now that has the magic type to stop the explosion. I felt panic start inside me. The lava was flowing right in the direction of the village.

What is going to happen to us and the villagers?


	11. Chapter 10: An Island Restored

Chapter 10

Gary POV

I looked behind me as I was sprinting to the village, lava was pouring out of the volcano fast. We were very far out from the village. I've lost track of how long I've been running, and my legs were starting to give out. I ignored the sting in my legs and hoped that Julia would wake up soon. She showed no sings of consciousness the last time I checked on her.

The previously cold air around me started to turn warm, it felt uncomfortable. I was adjusted to the bitter cold of the island when we first got there. After what felt like an hour of running, I felt myself getting dizzy from exhaustion, but I ignored it completely. I continued to run at my hardest, and that decision was the cause of me tripping over a huge, hidden rock buried under the snow.

Julia flew out of my hands and landed on the snow back up not even making a sound. My response was a "wahh!" and a painful landing on my stomach.

Panicked frustration ran though me as I limped to where my sister was laying. I shook her violently,

"Julia! Julia! Come on, you need to wake up!"

She still didn't respond.

"Come on Julia!"

"Please Julia! Wake up!"

Still no reply

I felt tears starting to come up, but I pushed the back as best as I could. I felt pathetic. I continued to shake Julia until a brilliant, yet cruel idea came to mind.

Some of the nearby plants caused poison ivy, maybe if I put them on my sister, she'll wake up.

I decided to use my plan and ran over to the nearest plants that looked like the ones' I used to make a latter on the volcano. I ran back to where Julia was laying and I rubbed them on her uncovered arms and hoped my idea would work.

Within a few minutes, I saw Julia's eyes squint. When she opened her eyes to me face, I could tell she could feel the effects of the "poison ivy" these plants caused. She leaped up on her feet and scratched her arms so hard that I could almost see the top layer of her skin flaking off of her. I really felt bad that I did this to her now, but we'd might be dead if I didn't.

Julia started talking to herself with light frustration, "Why am I so itchy?"

"Umm Julia, can you do me a favor?" I asked blankly as she continued to scratch herself.

"Sure, what?" her tone had lost all of its pervious frustration, as little as it was. I was surprised that she didn't blame her scratching problem on me by now.

I pointed at erupting volcano, "Can you fix that?"

She stopped scratching herself immediately and said, her eyes wide, "Woah… What the heck happened?!"

"Long story," I replied quickly, "just fix it, ok?"

"Ok!" she replied to me cheerfully.

I stood staring at the erupting volcano, and realized… that the lava… was almost on top of us.

Julia was taking her sweet time. She was stretching and warming up. I yelled at her angry and panicked,

"JULIA, JUST DO IT ALREADY!"

Julia stopped stretching immediately and worked her magic as soon as she saw the lava. She pushed her hands away from each other and downward and barked out, "Weather control, Earthquake!"

Right as I was squinting for the impact of the lava, the earth started shaking even harder and split entirely, allowing the lava to flow into it.

Both Julia and I sighed in relief. I fell on the snow and laid there looking at the milky sky. Julia fell back too and started making a snow angel. We both did small laughs in relief. When we were done with our fun, I said to Julia happily,

"Want to go and tell the villagers that we fixed the source of their weather problems?"

She smiled widely at me, "Yeah!"

We stood up and brushed the leftover snow on us and tried to resist scratching ourselves as we walked back to the village (I was way to tired to run). Julia was also questioning me about why she was so itchy, and she eventually coxed me into telling her the truth.

She exploded when she found out, "_You _gave me poison ivy?! Why on earth did you do that! Julia will be itchy for weeks now!"

"To get you to wake up! What other choice did I have? You saw how close that lava was to us!" I yelled back at her exasperated. I seriously didn't do that as a prank, I couldn't think of anything else at the time!

Julia rolled her eyes at me, "You sure you didn't do it as a prank? You could of splashed cold water on me."

I did not think about that…and it probably wouldn't work, "You're almost as resistant to cold as I am, do you really think that would of worked?"

She blushed a little, "No…I didn't think about that…"

I sighed and did a small growl, "See why I did it now?"

She looked to the ground and pouted, "Yeah… I get it…"

The rest of the walk back was silent.

…

Gary POV

When we got back to the village, we had to endure the ever-present stairs of the villagers. I could feel myself tensing up and going into a bad mood again. I _really _didn't like those stairs. They made me feel sort of feel unwanted.

We both decided that he first people to hear the news would be Helena and Sakan. I didn't think the chief deserved to hear the news first because he didn't care in the first place. I felt my gaze sharpen just by thinking of his attitude.

Julia was the first to the house and she knocked on the front door excitedly. Helena answered it in the matter of a second. She gasped to us, sounding exhausted,

"Did you fix it?"

Julia gave a wide smile, "Yeah! I think so, I was passed out for most of it though."

Helena blinked a little when Julia said "passed out", but grabbed us and pulled us inside anyway. She could barely contain her happiness.

"Sakan!" she called to her brother excitedly, "Gary and Julia are back! They beat up whoever was messing the weather up!"

A few seconds later I saw Sakan with a bath towel on his head walking slowly to the living room with a green robe on. He probably just got out of the bath. He looked at us sheepishly and to us without any tone,

"So you guys fixed whatever was screwing up the weather?"

Helena glared at her brother for who knows what. Helena motioned for him to sit on the furniture as she pressured me into telling her _exactly _what happened, I started,

"We walked right to where we thought they mountain you told us about was, and we realized that the _mountain _is actually a _volcano_." Helena's eyes widened after I said this, but she said nothing.

"We saw that there were large water magic circles coming from the base of the volcano and that they were adding moisture to the snow cloud and that the water froze once it reached the atmosphere. That was what was causing the snow."

Helena nodded, and I continued, "There was a small cave with another water circle in front of it, and I told Julia to clog it using her water magic, causing half of the volcano to explode. Then a small figure attacked me with fire magic and then started to attack my sister with earth and air magic. With Julia still in the air, he whispered to me, "Volcanic eruption…" and then the volcano started erupting."

Julia and Helena's eyes widened when I said this. Sakan had no reaction to anything I was saying, Helena said to me with surprise, "I didn't know there were volcanoes on this island…."

I nodded to her and continued explaining, "Julia conveniently fell into my arms and I ran as fast as I could towards the village. Julia had passed out, and to get her to wake up so she can save us, I sort of gave her poison ivy…"

Sakan's eyes widened and Helena gave me a disgusted look. I glared at her for a second before continuing the story once again, "Julia finally woke up and prevented the lava from killing us, you guys, and the villagers. Then we walked back here with the news. I don't really know what happened to the kid though…." I felt a little guilty and disappointed that he got away, but there's nothing I can do about it now.

Helena gave me a soft smile and Sakan gave me nothing. Once Helena processed this, she asked Sakan to take us to the chief so he can know what happened and we can fix the weather on the island with our magic. Then we could go home.

Sakan slowly got up and did what his sister ordered. He changed first and then we were on the way to the chief's tent. I wonder if he'll even _appreciate _that we helped him and his villagers out…

Sakan barged in to the tent like he did last time and for once the other villagers didn't stare at us. I stiffened a little at the thought of talking to the chief again, but my sister put a hand on my shoulder that silently told me to calm down. I did a small growl but listened to her.

The chief hasn't even changed his position on his carpet, "Chief Oren," Sakan told him formally, "the wizards have _in part_ dealt with the weather issue."

I glared at Sakan saying, _"in part", _but I kept my mouth shut.

The old man looked at us in shocking surprise, "You two really fixed the root of our problem?"

Julia nodded at him happily and I looked to the side angrily. I spoke to him in a softer tone, but lightly frustrated tone, "We managed to bust him and drive him away, but we couldn't defeat him sir."

"Is he going to come back again?" He questioned me softly.

"I don't' know, " I admitted, "but I don't think he'll come back anytime soon that's for sure."

The old man _smiled_ at us, and said, "Well, thank you for at least driving him out. I didn't think you two could do it, but you did! All you have to do is fix the island, right? Go and do that. I'll get your pay. You can come back anytime. The villagers will be so happy."

Despite what I felt about the old man…_ chief, _before, we couldn't take his pay without completely finishing the job. I said to him softly,

"We cannot accept your pay, sir. We didn't compete the job."

The chief looked at me surprised and said, "Can I at least give you something? I didn't even believe that you before now! At least let me give you something!"

Julia chimed in now, "It's ok. It would be bad for the reputation of our guild if we took your reward. We're happy to help out."

The chief surrendered and we went outside to fix the island, Sakan followed. The villagers were so happy when they learned the news. They made me regret everything I previously thought about them. It took a few hours of blood, sweat, and magic power, but the island was returned to its former self. It was sad to leave Helena and Sakan behind as Sakan brought us back to our port. Sakan even gave us a clear, wide smile for our help. On the bright side, at least I had a great story to tell the guild when we get back.

But I did promise Julia that she'd be able to lead us back to the guild, didn't I?


	12. Chapter 11: An Emergency Request

Chapter 11

Jason POV

I growled in frustration as I continued to pace around the guild hall. I'd been looking for Reo all morning and he is no where to be found! We need to start working soon if we're _ever_ going to pay back our debt!

In my effort to try and find Reo, I was interrupted by an almost hit to my face and the clinging of two swords. I sweat dropped as I watched Erza and Pantherlily duel. They'd been doing it for at least 30 minutes…

"You've gotten better Lilly," I heard Erza grunt to Pantherlily as they fought.

"I could say the same to you," Pantherlily grunted back to her.

All I could do was stand there and watch them. Even though I was a swordsman myself, their fighting scared me. I don't know how often they do this, but I'd like it if they didn't fight in the guild hall…

While I was watching them, I heard footsteps coming from the open doors of the guild hall. I turned around to see a young lady dressed in a T-shirt and torn up jeans. It looked like she had been working. I could see the stains of charcoal all over her body. She was huffing and had her hands on her knees. Erza and Pantherlily stopped their duel immediately once they saw her.

She spoke as urgently as she could, "I need your help…" the lady huffed, "my father's shop is being attacked by a wizard and he has my father cornered. My father told me to flee and get help… Since there was nothing I could do to help, I decided to listen and come here…"

Erza got right to business once she finished, "Jason!" she called to me.

I flinched as soon as I heard me name, "Yes?" I replied with confusion.

"I recognize this young woman. She is the daughter of a blacksmith that has a store downtown. Sometimes I ask her father to make some of my weapons." She said to me with a sharp gaze.

"Why do you need me to come with you?" I asked, my voice trembling a little.

Erza gave me a glare so intense that it scared me into submission, "Just come! You're a swordsman, aren't you?"

My nervousness escalated, "What does that have to do with anything?"

Erza managed to glare at me even harder, and I could only reply with a very nervous, "Yes, ma'am!" I walked over to her and looked to the floor.

Along with the young lady, we ran as fast as we could to her father's shop. When Erza looked at me again, her glare had changed into a gaze. She sighed. I had no idea if it was for me or for herself. What I do know is that I was chastising myself for talking back when she was ordering me to do something. It's been so long since I've seen her that I had forgotten that it's pointless to question her when she starts commanding.

We got to the shop within a few minutes, because it was so close to the guild. The shop didn't look like it was being attacked on the outside, but the people watching in terror outside the door showed what was really happening.

Erza was first in line. She pushed away some of the spectators saying, "We're here to handle the situation. Please clam down and step away from the door."

The people obeyed immediately and they stood out of the way to reveal a young boy around my age with straight dark brown hair, very sharp facial features, and fair skin. He was holding a man, who I think is the young lady's father, by the collar of his dirty T-shirt with his right hand, and he had a sword in his left. The sword he was holding looked normal, but I sensed something strange from it.

I'm pretty sure Erza did too.

The boy turned around once he heard our footsteps behind him. Before we got the chance to say anything to him, the young lady screamed at him, "Leave my father alone!" then she crossed her arms, "you'll have your hands full with these two!"

The boy's response was a curious glare at Erza and me. He dropped the young lady's father, and walked over to us silently. I could tell by his disposition that he would attack as soon as he got to us. I unsheathed the sword on my back.

Erza was already in the process of requiping her armor by the time I was in the process unsheathing my sword. Erza's body was enveloped in light as her clothes disappeared and was replaced with her heaven's wheel armor. I felt my gaze sharpen when I felt the gazes of some of the male spectators while Erza was changing her armor.

I got into my fighting stance and stared down young boy, who didn't look the least bit terrified. His eyes were such a dark brown that they almost looked black, similar to mine. The boy was more focused on Erza than me though.

Erza started summoning multiple swords one after another and made herself afloat. She was staring him down as much as I was. I was surprised that she didn't say anything to him by now. Maybe there was nothing to say.

The boy didn't budge or looked fazed by Erza's stare at all. He was extremely calm, and it put me a little on edge. When Erza was finally finished summoning her swords, she arranged them in a circular pattern and started to make them spin. While the boy still refused to move, she yelled, "Circle of swords!"

The spinning circle of swords surrounding the sides of Erza's body flew in the direction of the boy. The boy continued to stand there, but this time he got into a defensive stance and muttered something to himself. Suddenly, the color of his sword turned a light green and a substance that looked like glitter was coming from it. I also saw that a hollow hole just above the handle was replaced with a dark green stone with some sort of symbol on it.

My eyes widened at what I saw next. When the boy swiped his sword, the advancing circle of swords immediately fell to the ground. Erza lowered herself to the ground as her heaven's wheel armor was being replaced with her usual armor. If Erza was surprised at all, her face didn't show it. Her eyes were even sharper than before.

It must be my turn now. I requiped my sword to a water sword and added a lighting sword to my opposite hand. The blade of my water sword was completely made out of water that magically stayed upright in the shape of a blade. The hilt of it was designed to look like waves, and the handle looked like one on any other sword.

The blade of my lightening sword was shocking with lighting that was coming from the lightening magic generators that made up the hilt. An SC plug was attached to my wrist that was connected to the generators. The handle looked like a curved lightening bolt with each end fused to the hilt.

I charged at the boy and swiped both of my swords at once to electrify the swipe from my water sword with the lighting from my lightning sword. The boy refused to move and closed his eyes, like he was casually waiting for impact. By the time I got back into my fighting stance, the fused swipe from my swords had gone right trough the boy. My body tensed and my eyes widened.

"W-What the heck…" I said to Erza, barely believing what happened.

This time the surprise on Erza's face was visible, but she quickly composed herself. Erza relaxed and looked around the store. Deciding to follow her lead, I looked around too.

I noticed that a lot of the goods at the store, weapons, utensils, hardware, and other crafted products were either all over the floor or stolen. Earlier, out of the corner of my vision, I saw that actually none of the products were stolen, just scattered around the floor. What's going on…

The young lady form before was helping her father to her feet, his arm around her shoulder. Erza looked at the unmoving boy and motioned me to give her one of my swords. My gaze was questioning, but this time I listened silently.

Erza walked over to the boy and reached out to touch him. When she did so, her hand went right through him. She stood up a minute later and said, her voice understanding, "This is an illusion."


	13. Chapter 12: Akio and Leanna

Chapter 12

Jason POV

"An illusion?" I asked Erza to make sure I heard her right.

Erza nodded back silently.

I tensed. There was something familiar about this magic…but I can't put my finger on it…

Erza walked over to the blacksmith and his daughter and asked them softly, "Are you okay?"

They both nodded. The blacksmith's arm was still over his daughter's shoulders, which made me question if they really were ok.

"What are we going to do about the shop, Daddy?" The young lady asked her father.

The blacksmith looked to the ground solemnly, "I don't know. We don't have near enough money for repairs and almost all of our merchandise is gone…"

I felt another rush of nervousness, "We could help you clean up the shop…" I suggested to the blacksmith shyly.

"Can you?" The blacksmith looked hopeful.

I was tense for a completely different reason when Erza replied, a happy lift to her voice, "Of course. You've helped me out many times with my armor. It's the least I could do."

The blacksmith and his daughter smiled warmly at us. I gave them a shy smile in return and Erza smiled at them as well. As the crowd of townspeople started to disappear and Erza and me started to clean up, the fact that the boy was an illusion still bothered me. That kind of magic is so familiar….

Then it hit me

_No way, _I thought, my body filling with terror, _it can't be one of them…_

…

Hono POV

_Somewhere in the wilderness…_

I stared down my big, green, monkey-like opponent with complete dominance. I was ready to beat him to a pulp like I did all the rest of his "friends".

He didn't really notice it though.

"urahhh!" The forest vulcan yelled as he charged at me with his fists raised into the air.

I smiled deviously as I launched forward to punch him, dodging his ginormous fists almost coming down on my head. My punch landed right into his stomach, and immediately the forest vulcan fell to the ground, at least unconscious.

Once he was limp, I stood up straight and smiled to myself; happy I completed another job. This was my fifth one today. I walked over to one of the vulcans that I knew was dead and picked up one of his furry green arms. I flinched a little when I saw that some of the fur on the vulcan's arm was pink and in the shape of hearts. _Why is their fur like that? _

I dragged the vulcan along with my on the way back to the village who sent the job request to kill all the vulcans in the forest. As I was walking, I heard the voices of two little kids through the trees on another path. I stopped, curious.

"Come on Akio! I want to show you something cool!" Said one of the voices.

"What do you mean by _cool_? You don't mean the cold kind right?" The other voice replied nervously.

"Of course, I don't mean the cold kind!" The first voice said, sounding annoyed at the other voice's comment.

I heard a sigh of relief, "Thank goodness…"

It was after that sigh that I saw the two children, who both looked around seven. One was a girl with hair an icy blue with pale skin and eyes of the same color as her hair. The other was a boy with the same red, brown, ashy hair I have. His skin was tanner than the girl's and his eyes matched his hair. Then realization hit me,

I'm so dead.

I jumped behind the nearest bush and threw the vulcan behind me. I watched them. If either one catches my sent, I'm done for!

The girl glared at the boy as she asked him, "Do you want me to teach you something cool or not?"

The boy, Akio, didn't really seem to notice the girl's tone of voice, "Sure," he replied evenly.

The girl relaxed her posture and prepared to show the boy what this "cool" thing was. I already knew what it was going to be.

In a few seconds, I saw a pair of dragon wings shoot out of the girl's back. They weren't incredibly large. They were fitting for her body size. They were the same icy color as her hair. The spots were bones were on the wings were covered with dragon scales made from ice, with a slightly darker colored ice making up a small horn on the section furthest away from her body. The skin between each section of bone was the same color as her scales, and it on the bottom it curved upward. The boy looked at her in awe.

"Woah! How did you do that?" He asked her.

I could see the confidence on the girl's face when she replied, "Just force them out. You can do it too."

"Really?" The boy's voice was filled with awe.

"Of course, try it!"

"Ok," the boy got into an athletic stance. He looked like he was trying to push a huge bolder. I felt myself giggle a little as I watched him. This was one of the simplest things to do with our magic. It came naturally.

After a minute of trying, I was sure the boy was about to give up until two dragon wings the same size as the girl's exploded out of his back. There was a little blood with the boy's though. _He must have not done it in forever. I know why. _

The boy's wings had the same bone structure as the girls, but his were covered in red scales that matched his hair. The skin in between was a lighter color red, and the wings had the same curved pattern on the bottom of them, but his looked torn and had some small holes in them.

I smiled at the boy and started to try to sneak away when I stepped on a nearby stick. It cracked loudly.

"Who's there?" The girl turned around immediately.

I froze as I waited for her to spot me. Then a squirrel scurried across the ground from my direction. The girl relaxed.

"Oh, it was only a squirrel."

I sighed in relief. It would have been really bad if they saw me. I took this opportunity and ran back to the village with the vulcan over my back. I think it's about time I finish this job and get back to the guild.

…

Akio POV

I flapped my newfound wings and lifted myself into they sky. This is so cool!

Leanna brought hers back out and flew with me. We laughed and flew high into the sky. I've never flown anywhere before. It's fantastic! We did flips, dives, and flew as fast (at least as fast as I could) as we could. I had no idea I could do this.

When we landed Leanna's wings disappeared like stardust floating into the air, but mine stayed, I asked her, "Umm… How do you get these to go away?"

"You must still be tense," she replied to me with her ever-present air of confidence, "relax some more and they'll go away."

I listened, and once I relaxed my wings went away like Leanna's. I tried to catch some of the sparkles.

"We should go back to class," Leanna suggested, "the teacher will be mad if we're away from the school for too long, and recess is almost over."

"Yeah," I agreed and started to walk toward the path to the school.

Leanna looked at me with a mischievous look in her eyes, "Hey Akio, you know it's really cold in the classroom right?"

I shivered at the thought, "Yeah, I know."

"Well, I myself have taken the liberty of hiding _both _of your jackets so you can't find them when we get back." She looked at me with such an evil face that it made me shiver.

Why does she enjoy torturing me?...

"Please no…"

Her face got even eviler, "Oh, but I did."

Class is going to be so torturous now…

On the rest of the way back, I asked Leanna a question about the sound from earlier, "Hey Leanna, did you really think that noise was a squirrel?"

The confident look on her face never changed, "No, I knew there was someone there. I smelled him. I had to resist the temptation to freeze the whole area though. His smell was familiar, so I showed you what I showed you anyway."

"Is this supposed to be a secret?" I asked her.

She nodded, "uhuh. Don't ever tell anyone," her face got evil again, "or I'll think of even worse ways to torture you…"

I didn't even want to think about that.

"Who do you think it was?" I asked curiously.

"I'm guessing it's the boy from Fairy Tail who was talking care of the forest vulcans for us. Me and you could have done it ourselves though, but I understand why they sent a job for them." Leanna replied with her hands behind her head.

I sweat dropped, "We can't defeat fifteen vulcans… We're only seven!"

"We can," Leanna said before I could say anything else, "I'll tell you why eventually."

"Eventually" was one of Leanna's favorite words. It annoyed me a little, but most annoyances with me didn't last long. She was really the only person I hung out with, even though she had a crazy liking to torture me in any way her crazy mind could think of.

For some reason, something smelled different about the boy form Fairy Tail. Leanna noticed it first, and then I noticed it. He made me curious.

I cringed once we got to the even colder classroom. Leanna noticed and said with a scary amount of pleasure, "Oh, I forgot to tell you. I also changed the thermostat to 60 degrees before recess."

Like I said before, why does she like to torture me?


	14. Chapter 13: The Abandoned Village

Chapter 13

Mia POV

I sat in the guild hall suffering form a severe case of… complete…. utter… boredom…. ugh… There's almost nothing to do without Leah to bother…. I already went down to the archives and read anything that seemed remotely interesting. Almost everyone is out on a job. The only two here are Ren and my little brother Reo.

There's no way Reo will want to go on a job with me. He dislikes fighting and prefers to work on the sidelines, and the only jobs I really want to go on are fighting related. Who knows where Ren went off too, she's probably outside somewhere exploring the word and being happy with her cute, four year old mind.

Also, I have to deal with my hair never looking right in public. It's _blond. _My natural hair is _not_ blond, and Ritsu was right about the wigs being itchy. It really bothers me… Actually, with our disguises on, I don't really think _anyone's _wig doesn't bother me. The only person's hair that doesn't bother me is Hono's because he's not wearing a wig as part as his disguise.

Because I've ran out of options, I'm just going to write down how bored I am on the nearest sheet of paper and ask Ritsu to burn it later and hope no one finds it until he gets back.

You know what? I'm just going to find Reo and convince him to come on a job with me. There's nothing better to do anyway. I started searching around the guild hall for him. After about an hour of searching, I noticed that he was gone too. Where did he go off too?

I stopped searching for Reo. While I was searching, I noticed that even the egg was gone. _Great _I thought, annoyed and pitying myself, _I'm the only one left in our group here. Thanks a lot guys. _

I walked back over the table I was at and slumped down. I give up on finding entertainment.

Something interesting occurred less than a second later, I heard a rustling outside the guild hall. I got up to go and investigate. The noise felt like it was getting farther away, east of the town. I followed it in that direction. It crossed my mind that it might by Reo or Ren, but I have a bad feeling.

The sound finally stopped at the end of the east forest. It was covered in ruins. I walked around to see if I could find anything interesting. Even though I am inclined to fighting, I'm not dumb. I might be able to read any ancient texts here.

I walked into one of the wooden, cylinder like homes. I felt one of side of the walls. Off of the looks of the wood, it seems like it was made with the wood from nearby. I felt the sun on me, if this house had a roof, then it was destroyed by something. I walked further inside and searched the house.

The circular floors were covered by hardwood floors and a well designed circular carpet. One you would see in a living room or family room. There were a few square, windows that were broken on every floor. There were three floors that were connected by a circular staircase that edged the side of the house. It went up in a spiral. When I reached the top floor, I saw a book that looked pretty new.

It was sitting on a small table made of a very dark wood, and the room was decorated like a little girl's. I'm guessing that whoever lived here had a daughter. I sat down beside the table and picked up the book and started reading it. It was written in some of the best handwriting I've ever seen. It said,

_Dear Diary, _

_I think I'm going to join the guild that the old lady was talking about creating. She asked me if I wanted to join, and I wasn't sure. I heard that she let a criminal join… But, I'm going to have faith that it'll be a good experience. _

_I can't believe it's been three years since your town suddenly appeared in this forest. A lot of the citizens died because we couldn't get enough food…but everything's dying down now. _

_It's lonely living here all alone. I miss my family…. _

_From, _

_Maylon_

This girl was living by herself? What guild is she talking about? I flipped to another page,

_Dear Diary, _

_I feel like something bad is going to happen. More trees are dying by the day, and the weather is starting to act strange. One day it feels like we're cooking and another day it feels like we're being refrigerated! _

_I don't think it's the weather that's affecting the plants though… When I checked one out yesterday, it had a strange smell… It was almost like it was radioactive… I started to feel sick. _

_I've become an official member of the guild I was talking about earlier! On my 15__th__ birthday no less! I'm so happy! It's officially been ten years since I was first taught my magic. Even though it hasn't happened yet, I'm sure I'll be able to use my magic without feeling horrible very soon! _

I stopped reading. Why would her magic make her feel horrible? What does ten years have to do with anything? I tensed a little, she mentioned the trees starting to die, strange weather patterns, and a radioactive smell that I didn't notice when I got here. I read further,

_I went out searching again, not that I had much hope of finding anything. It's been years, I should probably give up soon, but I can't… or it's just that I don't want too. I got my guild mark on my right shoulder. I decided to be boring and get black. I wanted to get two different colors, but the old lady…I mean master, said that it doesn't work that way. We're a small guild, but it's nice!_

_It turns out that the "criminal" from before is really nice. He's completely changed from before. We have quite the rivalry, but it keeps my life entertaining. Is it just me, or are we the only people in the guild under the age of 30? _

_I write anything further once I learn about it, _

_Maylon_

I was starting to get the feeling that someone attacked this village very recently. I turned the page and noticed that it was the last entry. It wasn't even finished.

_Dear Diary, _

_I think this will be my last time writing to you. Our village is being attacked. It's a couple of dark wizards. The guild is doing our best to fend them off, but we're not having much luck. I'm writing this as fast as I can before they get to this house. I'm sure that one of them uses the same magic I do, and it's the reason why everything smelled weird earlier. _

_They are… _

The entry stopped, and I felt a presence behind me. I turned around to find two wizards behind me. I stood up and immediately had to brace myself from a blast of a light blue substance.


	15. Chapter 14: Taken

Chapter 14

Mia POV

I barely had enough time to react to the blast, and bracing myself didn't make it sting less. I looked at what was left of the house. All was left was the foundation, and to my surprise, the girl's diary made it too. The air was covered in smoke. I glared at the two wizards and got ready to fight.

When the smoke cleared, I actually got a good look at their faces. It only surprised me a little that they were kids around my age. One was a girl with pitch-black hair, pale skin, and the brightest electric blue eyes I've ever seen. The other was a boy with wavy almost black-brown hair, lightly tanned skin, and dark, forest green eyes.

I said to them angrily, "Who are you?!"

The girl actually replied, she had a sly smile, "Nothing you need to know about."

That made me angrier, I said to her in a low voice, "You'll talk by the time I'm finished with you. Are you two the wizards who attacked this village?"

The boy spoke up this time, his voice was very soft, but audible, "That is classified information."

Now I have a feeling that these guys work for someone. Well if they refuse to talk, I'll just beat it out of them, "Well since you won't tell me the information I want," I charged at them, "I'll just beat it out of you!"

The girl's smile got even wider; I could almost hear her whisper, "You can try…"

I put my hands together and yelled, "Iron make arsenal of cannons!"

Five iron cannons appeared in front of me and I pulled down on one of them. All five cannons shot at once towards the unmoving wizards. I heard the crash as soon as the iron cannon balls hit them. I smiled in victory, and waited a little too long for their next move.

Next I felt a hard punch to the stomach that felt more like earth than an actual fist. I could feel my vision going blurry. How could I be knocked out by a single punch? It was only a second later that I feel unconscious. Right before I did, it was almost like I could feel the girl's evil smile and the boy's blank stare.

_An hour before this… _

Gary POV

The walk back to the guild was a torturous as the walk from it. Julia really _didn't _have any sense of direction, and no matter how many times I told her she would never believe me. I tried to convince her to let me lead again,

"Julia, how many times do I have to tell you? You have no sense of direction. Just let me lead ok?"

Julia shook her head with a confident smile, "Nope, you promised that I'd get to lead back. You're not breaking it on my watch!"

Ugh… There's no helping the situation, huh? Julia continued to lead us in the wrong direction until we eventually ran into a wall. Literally. At least I had some of the amusement of Julia smashing into the wall before I did.

Julia's response was a loud, "Umph, Julia hurt's!" and mine was a small "umph" and a glare at the wall. I was already irritated enough…

I laid on my back shirtless with the itching finally returning from the poison ivy I got earlier. I glanced at Julia who didn't look itchy at all and sighed staring at the sky. I looked at all of the different clouds as the crossed the sky.

"Aren't they pretty, Gary?" I heard Julia speak to me and pointed at one of the clouds, "I see one that look's like a fairy!"

She was actually right; the cloud did look like a fairy with small, round wings, a small face, and a small body. I've had a long enough day that almost anything my sister said would not make me smile. I just sighed again.

Suddenly, it started raining and the white clouds from before started to turn black. I sighed again, there is no helping our luck right now.

Julia didn't take it well, "Do you think the strange weather followed us here? Like the curse?" Her voice shuddered a little.

That was ridiculous, "Julia, I'm pretty sure the curse didn't follow us."

That didn't really change Julia's mind, "You sure?"

I felt another shot of irritation go through me, "Yes, Julia, I'm sure."

I was so happy when she didn't ask again. I closed my eyes and let myself start to take a nap. It _was_ what I wanted to do before this job anyway. It as only a few minutes that I fell asleep to the sound of the rain; Julia must of fell asleep too, because when I woke up later, I was not were Julia lead us to.

_With Ritsu and Leah…_

Ritsu POV

Leah and I were about to go inside the guild when I noticed that something was off about the shape of it. I grabbed her arm and jerked her backwards. She glared at me, she said to me annoyed,

"What do you think your doing Ritsu? It's just the guild."

A bit of fear was laced in my voice, "I'm not sure it's the guild…Something looks and smells off…"

Leah rolled her eyes at me, "I'm sure you're just going insane Ritsu. Come on, let's go inside."

I tensed and looked to the side, I guess I'll just follow her. It's pointless to convince her at this point. Leah walked into the "guild hall" first and I followed her silently.

I still smelled something off…it was almost the same smell that the guy that followed us from earlier. I was getting a really bad feeling. Right when Leah opened her mouth to announce that we were back, I felt an explosion and a strong arm dragging me by the collar of my shirt. The explosion hurt enough, but the shoulder was gripping me hard.

I opened my eyes as much as I could, trying to stay conscious as best I could. With my blurry vision, I could see that my sister was in the man's other arm and that she was completely unconscious. I felt a pen rest against my neck. When I looked up to see our attacker's face, all I saw was extremely pale skin, the hood of a cloak, and strands of snow-white hair.

"Who…are…you?..." was all I managed to coke out before reaching unconsciousness.

_At the blacksmith's shop…_

Jason POV

I wiped sweat off my forehead. Whew… It took a while but we were finished. The blacksmith's shop looked spotless, and with a wave we said goodbye to the blacksmith and his daughter. On our walk back, Erza smiled at me and said,

"Good work. You handled that well."

I smiled shyly at her compliment and stayed silent. Erza smiled again and continued leading the way back to Fairy Tail. The sun was setting by the time we were done. It was so pretty.

After a while, Erza was getting a ways ahead of me and I was getting lost in the crowd of people coming home for dinner. I caught sight of one. He looked familiar… He had straight brown hair, dark eyes, sharp features, and fair skin…

Before I got the time to realize whom it was I felt the hilt of a sword hit me hard on the head before I fell unconscious.

_Back at the real Fairy Tail guild hall… _

Hono POV

When I made it back to the guild, I was met with the death glares of everyone gathered around a small piece of paper on one of the tables. I walked over.

I tried to be as casual as I could, "Hey, what's going on?"

Erza turned to me, her face looked distraught. It was a mixture of pure rage and…guilt?... She said to me, her voice low,

"Someone took the kids…"

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. She had to be kidding, but with that voice…I knew she wasn't… I shoved past everyone so I could see the note. They didn't stop me. I snatched it up and grasped it in my hands, shaking. It said,

_Hey Fairy Tail, _

_We have some of your "members", if you want them back, you need to fight us for them. _

_The Shooting Star Guild _

My face now became as murderous as everyone else's. Natsu and Master's angry statement was what we were all feeling,

"This means war."


	16. Chapter 15: The Shooting Star Guild

Chapter 15

Hono POV

I couldn't believe what I saw…. There's no way my friends can be captured….

And there's no way I'm letting them get away with it…

After war had been officially declared by Natsu and Master, we were going to go to wherever their guild was immediately, but there was one problem….

We had no idea where it was.

I have never even _heard _of this guild before, and I doubt anyone else has considering that no one is rushing outside right now. Levy was down in the archives searching for a book that would tell us where the guild was, but she was taking forever…

Team Natsu was busy bickering about the whole situation entirely. Not that I blame them.

"I can't believe this happened…and right under our noses. They'll pay for this." I heard Natsu say angrily to the rest of his team.

They all nodded glaring at the floor. Erza still had a different kind of look to her… I couldn't put my finger on it.

Erza spoke up; her voice was shaking a little, probably from anger, "I was watching him…. He was taken and I couldn't do anything…. It's all my fault…"

I now know the strange look Erza had; she felt guilty.

Lucy smiled a little, despite the situation, and said to her warmly, "Erza, don't worry about what happened… We're all going to fix it anyway."

Natsu and Gray relaxed, but refused to smile. They nodded to her.

Erza looked away, but I could almost see the beginnings of a smile. I walked over to the note and read it again. I got even angrier every time I read it. I glared at the floor and let my hair come across me eyes. Then it came to me,

We could follow the sent of the note…. I can do it and we have three dragon slayers.

I spoke up, "Hey guys! I have a great idea!"

Everyone looked at me and I realized…. I haven't talked with anyone yet… I flinched a little.

"We can use the sent on this paper to track them down!" I continued to announce, showing none if the nervousness I recently started to feel.

I could almost feel everyone thinking if my idea would work or not. I felt a little dejected. My social skills continue to be horrible. Then someone who I couldn't see spoke up,

"That could work…" she said in a small, shy voice.

Then everyone else started to agree with it, "Yeah! That'll definitely work! I'm fired up!" Natsu yelled, fire radiating off him.

"Yeah! Let's go save them!" Lucy looked almost as pumped as Natsu.

Gray smiled slyly, "We'll give them a beating they'll never forget."

"I agree with that," Erza agreed, her usual disposition returning.

I handed Natsu the note. It would be better if he smelled it. If I did, it would give away too much. Natsu gave the note a couple little sniffs and started to charge towards the door leaving dust behind.

"It's this way!" he yelled in the distance.

I was lucky I got some of the note's sent before Natsu ran off. I sprinted after him. I was running faster than I should; I'll catch Natsu quickly if I don't watch it, but I can't help it. If this guild is going to hurt my friends, they're going to pay for it. They don't know how hard it was for me to make my friends.

...

? POV

Why?..., Why is it so hot today?..., and why can't the temperature stay at 75 degrees and just…stay there?, were all my thoughts as I sat at the bar with my head jammed on the table, trying not to burn every one of my crazy guild friends as they continued to be stupid. I shot a glare at Makio, who was irritating me the most.

His response was not one that I wanted. He just smiled evilly and stuck his tongue out at me. I felt my grumpiness and irritation skyrocket. _I'm not going to murder him. I'm not going to murder him. I'm not going to murder him. _I thought repeatedly, trying to keep my current fire dragon instincts from showing themselves.

Then he threw a chair at me and I lost it, "Makio!" I turned to him and gave him the scariest glare I could muster, "do you want me to murder you?!"

He smiled maliciously at me and replied, "Oh yes I _really_ do want you to murder me," he said, almost sung, sarcastically, "You can try, but I doubt you can."

I know the last part wasn't sarcastic. I growled and lit my fists aflame and started attacking him as hard as I could. He dodged about half of my punches, because he used his magic to take one of Master's books and squish it on my face our entire fight. Once it was over I noticed I managed to burn the guild hall and everyone in it again (except Makio…). I growled at myself, but I knew it was going to happen anyway with the temperature being this hot.

Makio laughed at me out loud. He almost keeled over, "Wow Maylon, you really need to learn to control yourself when you're on fire dragon slayer magic."

I shook in anger as I growled at him loudly as I replied, "It's not _just _fire dragon slayer magic right now! There's some earth and sky mixed in too."

Makio shrugged, "Whatever, I'm not sure if I'll ever understand your magic," he added in quietly, "and why it gives you major mood swings…"

"I bet you never will," I growled back to him, not wanting to deal with his antics right now." I started walking over to my seat at the bar.

"Maylon…" I heard Master's usually soft voice behind me, "can you come over here a second?"

I turned to her with a grumpy expression to realize that every guild member was glaring at me and Master looked exhausted. Even Len and Rayna stopped their fight to glare at me. I walked over to Master, who had dropped her now scorched book next to her, and I hopped she wouldn't punish me too much.

She said to me, her exhaustion clear in her voice, "Maylon," she sighed, "I know your magic causes you to have…mood swings, but that doesn't give you an excuse to burn down the entire guild hall."

I nodded and refused to meet her eyes. My fists were clinched. I was waiting for her to give me my punishment. She continued,

"I know you and Makio have had a rivalry for a long time, but it's costing me repairs that I can't always afford to fix. We're not one of those major guilds, remember?"

That was a sharp reminder. We weren't a big time guild. We were actually pretty small, and the only real young members here are Makio and me. All the other members just look young because they carry a youth lacrima that Master gave to them. We barely got enough jobs to make it as it is…

I felt guilty, but my current set of instincts are leaning me against it, so I decided to hide it. When I finally got the nerve to look Master in the eye, she gave me my punishment,

"Maylon, as punishment for wrecking the guild hall again, you'll go on a job with Makio and not have wrecked anything, understand?"

I understood, but I felt like a bomb went off inside me. I turned to Makio wide eyed and he laughed and said slyly,

"Great to be working with you."


	17. Chapter 16: A Misunderstanding

Chapter 16

Maylon POV

I can't take this… I just can't take this…. I was walking to our client's house while ignoring everything my _partner _was trying to tell me about how fantastic he was. Actually with it being this hot today, it's better that I ignore him than ending up punching him in the face…. Then Master would kill me… But I _really _wanted to voice these thoughts to him.

To bad I can't

He'd just tease me over and over and over again, and then there was the whole "Master killing me" if I hurt him in any way. So I would just have to put up with him to the best of my ability…

"What is your magic called again?" he asked me with a little too much pleasure, "I don't think I remember."

"If you can't even remember it, why do you even care to know? It's not too hard." I grunted back to him, refusing to meet his eyes.

"But I want to know," he cooed, "I would _love _to know what magic my very best _friend _uses. Why are you so cruel?"

_Oh if you think this is cruel, you should see my personality during the night. _I smirked, "You know you don't really look like an ex-criminal. Your hair is a bright, neat blond, you have bright green eyes, and seem to have a strange sense of fashion," I could feel him looking at me funny, "I mean who wears high wasted jeans with the kind of crazy shirts and vests you have? And what _are _your shoes anyway? Your already tall enough!"

He laughed, "Oooh, is someone jealous of my height?"

I could feel every emotion related to anger in me go through the roof. It's not my fault I'm slightly under average height…

Makio continued to poke fun at me; "I'll take that as a yes. All your giving me is silence."

_Just ignore him. Just ignore him. Just ignore him, _I thought to keep myself from hitting him. It was successful until I heard the sounds of rushed footsteps going right in the direction of our guild hall…

I decided to ask Makio for his opinion before I go on a rampage, one of my eyebrows twitched, "Hey Makio… Do you hear footsteps going in the direction of our guild?..."

"I think the crazy is finally catching up to you Maylon. There's no one heading in the direction of the guild…." He stopped and nudged me, "look…."

I looked in the direction of the footsteps and I almost couldn't believe what I was seeing. _Fairy Tail _was heading in the direction of our guild hall…. _Fairy Tail, _one of the biggest guilds running right now, was heading towards our guild hall with some of the most murderous faces I've ever seen.

We're so dead.

But that didn't keep me from wanting to beat some answers out of them for why they are attacking (or at least what I think….) us in the first place….

" Makio…." I looked at him straight in the eyes for the first time in the last 30 minutes with one off the most serious, aggressive faces I had, "we need to back to the guild right _now_!"

….

Hono POV

The Shooting Star guild hall was in sight. It was a lot smaller and run down than I imagined though…. I was purposely trailing right behind Natsu, who was in the lead. Natsu crashed through the door with an explosive punch, and we all met the shocked members with murderous glares. I'm sure that all of us were ready to wreck havoc. Natsu wasted no time in attacking. No one said anything, but scream screams of war.

His fists were aflame and started fighting the nearest members, who were now ready to fight. One of them was a red haired woman, who had onyx eyes, a slender frame, and a skin tone slightly darker than Natsu's. She used some of the strangest magic I've ever seen… It made her body almost gel like. It almost absorbed most of Natsu's attacks. But unlike her, most of the people Natsu hit with his flames fell unconscious as soon as he hit them.

I focused on my own opponents. I didn't really use my magic at all. Every time I punched one of them, they fell to the ground. This was almost easy….

Everyone else was cleaning out their fill of members. Cana was doing so many different spells with her cards that I couldn't keep track of it. Laxus shocked about half of the members at least once. Gajeel knocked at least eight of them with his breath attack alone. I didn't have time to mention anyone else's attacks, because the guild's master appeared from the extremely small top floor. She screamed at the top of her lungs,

"WHAT IN THE WORLD IS GOING ON HERE?!" She looked absolutely mortified.

She was at least as old as Master Makarov and didn't look like the fighting type. Before she got the chance to say anything else, a teenage girl and boy ran through the door. The girl looked like she wanted to kill some of us and the boy's expression was dark. There was something familiar about the girl though….

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO OUR GUILD?!" she screamed at us and started to launch forward to block some of her guild mates from being hit from a triple dragon slayer attack. My eyes widened when I saw her eat the entire attack. She stuttered after it. There was no mistaking it… I knew exactly who she was…

She looked the three dragon slayers, who were at least as shocked as I was, and drew breath into her cheeks,

"Seasonal dragon….." then a mixture of fire, wind, and earth flew towards the other dragon slayers, "Roar!"

Natsu and Wendy ate their fill of the attack, but Gajeel braced himself for impact because of the lack of his element in the attack. After that the fighting stopped, but it wasn't because everyone wanted to. It was because the boy from before was using some kind of magic to keep us all still. Everyone struggled to get out of it.

The boy looked at Master darkly and asked him, "Why are you attacking us?"

He released us from his spell and we all looked at each other. The boy walked over to the dragon slayer girl and gripped her elbow. She glared at us and spoke harshly to the boy, but it was so soft that I'm sure I was the only one who heard it, "What do you think your doing? I want them to pay for hurting our friends for no reason!"

The boy changed from gripping her on the elbow to having her in a strangle hold to keep her from attacking us. I really shouldn't be calling her "girl", I knew exactly who she was.

She's my aunt, but... no one in my family could find her or my other aunt _ten _years after "that" happened. I was confused though,

Why is she here anyway?

The other guild's master spoke up before I got the chance to ask her anything,

"Why are you attacking us?" she sighed and looked completely exhausted.

Master went back to normal size and answered her firmly, I'm guessing that he sensed the exhaustion in her voice, "You took some of our members. Do you not expect us to attack?"

The other guild's master looked completely surprised, "We _never_ took any of your members. This is a complete misunderstanding."


	18. Chapter 17: Heritage Revealed!

Chapter 17

Hono POV

_After everything was settled…_

I was sitting outside the Shooting Star guild hall. Everything was settled down now, and everyone was chatting with the members of our new ally. I didn't want to get involved with everyone…especially since Aunt Maylon might notice me if I do. Even with my disguise on, I don't want to risk my secret getting out… It's too big to be taken lightly.

I looked to the ground and started scribbling with a stick. All of my previous anger has turned to sadness and disappointment. Even though in actuality every one of my friends have been members of Fairy Tail for _years_, I never really got the opportunity to make friends with many of the older members outside my small group… and even after meeting the _other _members, I haven't really made much progress…

I heard the laughter and chatting from the guild hall behind me grow even more. I could even hear some, "Where's Hono?"s. I felt flattered by their words, but I choose to ignore them. As I looked at my small drawing, it reminded me that this really didn't settle down easily… Almost everyone in the guild didn't believe Master Nokoshi when she told everyone that her guild, in short, had been framed at first. After searching their guild hall extensively and a lot of questioning, we believed them.

I had the note from before in my hands. Natsu gave it to me before he busted into the guild hall. He probably thought I would like it more because the people who were taken were my closest friends. I crumbled it up slightly. I probably should have been the one to smell the note. I could probably pick up the sent better. Whoever wrote this note must have let one of the members here touch it before he gave it to us so we would go to the wrong location…

I crumbled the note even more. I know my social skills are horrible and that I care about the older Fairy Tail members a lot, but I need to go looking for my friends _now. _

I guess it's the nature of a dragon.

….

_Deep in a forest…_

Jason POV

I have no idea where I am. All I know is that someone is carrying me through some forest and that I'm blindfolded and tied up with rope. I could hear bugs buzzing in the background.

The person carrying me didn't feel bulky; he had the same toned body type I have. I wasn't very high up either; I could feel my legs dragging in the dirt. I doubt he even knew I was conscious.

Well barely conscious

Suddenly my captor dropped me and I fell hard to the ground. I could feel rocks scraping my skin as I fell. I tried to sit up straight as soon as I got my bearings, but…it failed quickly.

I heard footsteps coming towards me. I felt small hands taking the blindfold off me and I was met with harsh bright light and a kid around my age.

He had the same body type as the person I faced at the blacksmith's shop….but this kid didn't have sharp features and his hair was a jade green. His eyes matched his hair, and by looking at him, you wouldn't think of him being a bad guy. I glared at him as soon as my vision cleared.

When he caught my gaze, he smirked and said to me, "Well, look who _finally _decided to wake up."

I struggled against the ropes keeping me still, "Who are you?!" I yelled at him loudly.

"That's classified information Mr._ Jason_. You should know full well that _I _am in the position for questioning, not _you,_" he replied to me with a note of politeness. It irritated me.

I seethed at him and refused to say anything. He wasn't getting anything important out of me.

"You know that disguise of yours? It doesn't really suit you at all," he started, "I'll take it off of you. It's just not right seeing you with _brown _hair."

No. No, no, no… I felt myself start to tense and sweat. He can't do this…

I struggled as much as I could to try and get away, but my sword was gone and if I tried to requip one, it wouldn't appear in my hands. It would appear on the ground. This boy would just take it.

He walked over to me casually, the smirk never leaving his face. He looked down at me as I continued to struggle fiercely. He grabbed the wig covering my hair, and I struggled even more to try and shake his hand away, but it was no use.

The boy yanked the wig of my head, revealing the scarlet hair that I inherited from my mother. In that moment, I felt so helpless and angry. I wanted to fight this kid so badly…but I couldn't no matter how much I tried.

"Ahh, isn't that better?" he sighed, "let's get down to business Jason _Fermandes_. Where is your piece of the _Dream Key_?"

…..

_At the abandoned village… _

Mia POV

"Haden, you taking _forever. _You're being such a slow poke!" I heard a young female voice in front of me.

The person carrying me sighed and replied softly, "I wouldn't say my name so causally like that, _Arianna_. For all you know she could be conscious right now."

After he finished his sentence, I realized who these people were. They were the people I was fighting before… How long have I been out?

I could hear the slyness in the girl's voice when she replied, "Why would that matter? We're not that well known in this time anyway. I don't care if she knows our names."

I could feel the boy tense a little, "Well _I _care if she knows. To me, it's better safe than sorry." His voice was still soft, but now it had a harsh undertone to it.

I tried to move some to look the girl in the face, but my body refused to let me. I felt pathetic, but I stopped trying after about a minute. After my attempt to move, the boy stopped. I guess he knows I'm awake now.

I heard the girl's steps fade and she said to the boy carrying me, "Why'd you stop? Don't tell me that you're paranoid now."

The boy's body tensed a little again, "I'm not paranoid. I felt the girl move a little. I think she's awake."

The girl sighed this time, "Might as well start questioning her now. Maybe she'll tell us more information if she's still loopy from being knocked out," her voice started to pick up pace, "hey, can you take her wig off? I don't think she'll need it for here on out."

Apparently the boy listened to her, because he immediately dropped me to the ground and yanked the blond wig off my head. I felt so happy. Finally my pitch-black hair could have freedom.

The girl must have noticed my happy reaction and said to me, "Aren't you mad that I ordered your disguise taken off?"

Much to my displeasure, I really was still loopy from being knocked out, "Oh I could care less if you knew what I really looked like," I told her, my voice light, "the people I was hiding it from aren't here now."

I found enough energy to try and look at her. My vision was blurry, but I could sort of see her facial features. It looked like she was glaring at me.

"Well it looks like I was right about you being loopy. I'll take this to our advantage," she sounded like a mixture of annoyance and pleasure, "Mia _Redfox, _what do you know about the Dream Key?"

….

_In the sky…_

Gary POV

When I finally woke up from my nap, I noticed that I was no longer on the ground.

I was being carried in the air by some _guy, _who I could only guess is trying to kidnap Julia and me. I sweat dropped. I can already tell this isn't going to be a very good day…

I felt a sharp claw poke my side. I jerked at it and glared up at the person carrying me. I've never seen him before in my life, and I can tell by his light brown and dark purple-scaled dragon wings that he was _not _the guy who attacked us earlier.

I was inwardly terrified as I realized what this guy was, but I didn't show any of it. My glare intensified when he started talking to me,

"You took a really long nap. Your sister woke up before you."

I looked over at my sister, who gave me a small smile of reassurance. It didn't help much to settle the terror inside of me though. We were in a _very _bad situation.

"I have a few questions to ask you both," the early adolescent started, "and unless you want to have a few bones broken, you'll answer them."

His threats irritated me; no matter how much you threaten me I won't tell you anything. My sister is another story…. I really hope she doesn't ruin it for us.

"I'm flying us to where my cousin is. I wasn't able to take him because he was at your guild hall before I got my chance. He'll go off on his own eventually," he was talking casually now, "now, before you ask a bunch of questions you won't get answers to I'll let you know that I know both your names and the fact that you _were _wearing disguises prior to this. Don't even ask how I know. I won't tell you."

_Great…. This is just great… _Even though the guy said that he wasn't going to tell us anything, Julia tried asking him anyway, in a _really _annoying causal tone, "How do you know our names?"

The guy sighed, "Didn't I already tell you that I'm not going to tell you anything? It's not like either of you are strong enough to beat it out of me."

I did a small growl at how accurate the guy was when he said this. Our magic didn't really have the power to beat him… It was pointless to struggle, and if we did he might drop us or worse.

My sister said to him, annoyance in her tone, "Well then _tell _us our names if you know them. Julia want's proof."

The guy sighed again, "Why not. It's not really information _you _two need anyway," he looked at Julia, "you are Julia _Fullbuster," _then he looked at me, "and you are Gary _Fullbuster_."

…

_In the same forest Jason is in…._

Ritsu POV

I woke up to being in some strange forest with myself being chained to a tree along with my sister, who looked like she wanted to kill the adult in front of us. He was the same guy I saw following us earlier.

He was sitting in the shade near us and had the hood of his cloak off. His hair was as light as light could get. Snow white, maybe even further than snow white and his skin was extremely pale. His eyes were such a light blue that I could almost see through them. When he walked into the light, I could see his eyes turn red before he squinted them. He whispered something to himself before addressing us firmly,

"You don't need to know any formalities about me other than that I'm here to question you, and if I don't look you completely in the eye it's because your already pretty blurry to me anyway."

"What are you doing to us?!" my sister wasted no time starting to scream questions at him.

The man sighed, "Do you really expect me to tell you?"

Leah ignored his question and moved on to the next one, "What did you do to our friends?! The guild hall was completely empty when you caught us!"

The man sighed again and repeated his question, "Again, do you really expect me to tell you? For all you know, I could have left your friends _alone _and trapped you."

Leah refused to give up, "How should I know that? All I know is that when I free myself your dead."

"My you really do take after you father in the personality department," he took a deep breath, "my first job here is to destroy your disguises and investigate your things. I'm going to complete it."

He walked over to Leah slowly and yanked off her black wig to reveal her straight, blond hair as she was yelling, "Get away from me, you stupid, old man!" Now I really wanted to hurt him, as I drew my breath into my cheeks to attack him, suddenly my cheeks fattened out. My eyes widened.

Then he walked over to me and yanked off my brown wig to reveal my spiky, insane pink hair that I got from our father. He glanced at both of us before saying, almost to himself, "Man you two really do take after your parents, Leah and Ritsu _Dragneel." _


	19. Chapter 18: The Dream Key

Chapter 18

Lucy POV

_Back at the Shooting Star Guild _

_Ugh… _Talking to all these people take up so much of your energy after a while, and I don't normally find talking to new people that difficult or tiring in general… maybe it's because these people can almost be as crazy as Fairy Tail…

The proof was in Len and Rayna…

They've been fighting for the last ten minutes. I've had to hide under a table twice! I've given up on trying to walk around them, so I'm stuck watching them fight…

"Hey Len!" Rayna, a dark haired woman, continued to sneer at Len, "I heard you caught your house on fire again. What was the reason this time?"

Len, the red haired woman I saw Natsu fighting earlier, sneered back, "Why do you want to know?"

Now the two were almost touching heads, "I just wanted to see if your cooking's gotten any better. Maybe I could come over sometime," I heard some sarcasm in Rayna's voice.

Len smirked at her, "Oh? Well if you feel like getting your head burned off later, then go ahead."

Rayna started laughing. Actually she was laughing so much that she had to back away, "So your cooking _hasn't _gotten any better! You might kill yourself one day with those habits if your not careful!"

Len started to space out a little after that, "Ahh… Despite how insulting that comment is, why does it seem so familiar?"

I sweat dropped a little. This woman might be insane….

Rayna looked mortified, "Umm, Len…. What do you mean by that?"

Len looked down in thought, "Umm, I don't really know. It just seems familiar."

Rayna sighed, "My guess is that it's part of you recovering from anesthesia…. But you killing yourself because of your cooking _is_ a little morbid… You're still my friend you know."

Len gave her a little gasp of surprise, "Wow, I never thought you considered me a friend…"

I sweat dropped again, after that they were back at it, but this time they dragged Natsu, Gray, Elfman, Jet, Droy, Erza, Canna, and practically every male member of both guilds into it.

I moved under the table I was sitting at to _try _to not get caught in the crossfire. I had my hands over my head as I peeked at the fight every once in a while. Eventually, I looked over to my side and saw Wendy under the table next to mine. I could tell by looking at her that she didn't know how to handle this…

I sighed; I'm really going to regret this later… I slowly moved out from under my table to try and make it to Wendy's table unharmed. Unfortunately for me, right as I was out from under my table, Natsu decided to punch Gray into the nearest wall.

Well, it was more _me _than a wall…

It hurt like crazy. I blushed immediately because of Gray being punched _with me _to the nearest wall, but all the pain from it was quickly washed away by my growing frustration.

I quickly moved away from the wall, "Can you guys please cut it out?!"

Natsu rolled his eyes, "Stripper here started it. Maylon was telling me about how crazy her family is and _Droopy Eyes _commented that I'm probably crazier."

I sighed. I don't doubt it.

Gray glared at him, "_You _were the one who started fighting me, _Slanty Eyes_. Don't blame me for stating the obvious."

Natsu glared at him too, "Well I wouldn't have started anything if you didn't say that!"

"Are you sure about that? You're pretty fighting prone."

Natsu and Gray were in each other's faces now, "And your not, Ice Freak?!"

"Less than you, Pyro Freak!"

I took their momentary distraction to sneak under Wendy's table to _attempt _to comfort her. Though she can be pretty tough when it's needed, Fighting is not really something she likes getting involved in…

I tapped her on the shoulder and gave her a quiet "hey". She repeated it back and said to me with an exhausted smile,

"They fight wherever they go, don't they?"

I nodded, "Yeah, we might have some repair bills when this is over…"

She gave me a small sigh, "Yeah…."

After a few seconds of silence, I realized something. I haven't seen Hono at all, and I know he went with us.

I asked Wendy to see if she knows, "Hey Wendy, have you seen Hono at all since the fighting stopped?"

Wendy looked up, "I don't think so… It's almost like he disappeared…."

Great, another member is missing. Though I was just as angry as the others earlier, now I'm getting really frustrated with our newest members suddenly disappearing. What the heck is going on?

I sighed loudly, "Ugh, I really hope that he doesn't go missing too. He's the last of our newest members…"

Wendy nodded solemnly. I'm going to go looking for Hono when everything quiets back down.

I asked Wendy, "You want to help me find Hono when all of this is over?"

Wendy's face brightened and she smiled, "Of course!"

…

_Back with Jason…._

Jason POV

I was taken aback a little, my piece of the Dream Key? What does he mean by that?

I continued to struggle against my bindings and glared at the boy as I asked, "What do you mean?!"

He inched closer to me, "Oh come on! _We _know full well the only reason why you're in this time period is to find the next piece of the Dream Key!"

Then I remembered. We weren't here _just _to escape _them, _we were mainly here to find the next piece of the Dream Key… How could I have forgotten?

The boy stared at my face for a few seconds before smirking, "You remember now don't you?" he laughed now, "you must have been so absorbed into seeing your parents again that you forgot."

I immediately stopped struggling after he said this. He was right, but it was still something that I didn't like to talk about. None of us did.

The boy continued to smirk at me, "I guess I'm right. Doesn't it feel great being _easily _captured by the _them _I've heard you talk about to your friends while I was waiting for the right moment to catch you?"

I felt a rush of so many emotions after he said that, that I couldn't say anything to him. I glared down to the floor.

The boy sighed, "Well this isn't going anywhere. I just bring you to Aito. He isn't very far."

The boy grabbed the rope keeping me still and started to drag me like before. I felt myself growl and a stab at my pride. Fairy Tail wizards shouldn't be treated like this… We aren't the strongest guild for nothing…

After about five minutes of being dragged, I sensed two familiar magic energies and I saw a very pale man. The boy threw me in front of him, I'm guessing so I could see all three of them clearly. My eyes widened when I saw Ritsu and Leah attached to a tree in some of the strangest bindings I've ever seen…

Ritsu's binding looked like he was tied up with some strange purple poison and Leah's looked like… it didn't look like she had any bindings at all. It just looked like her hands were being forced together and she was forced to stay near the tree.

I called out to them, my voice echoing the relief and happiness I was feeling inside, "Ritsu! Leah!"

They turned to me as soon as they heard my voice. They looked just as happy to see me as I was to see them. But our reunion was soon disrupted when the pale adult across from them walked over to the boy behind me.

"You have any luck questioning him?" The man asked the boy causally.

The boy sighed, "No, after I mentioned his parents he wouldn't talk."

The man didn't show any emotion, "Why not threaten him? He might talk then."

"Look," the boy sounded annoyed, "you know almost nothing about their guild. If these kids are the same as their parents, they're aren't saying anything if you threaten them."

I was shocked that a boy my age could act that mature, and call me Ritsu, and Leah _kids _when he is easily our age. I looked over to the pale man, who I now assume is the Aito that the boy was talking about earlier, there is something strange about him… But I can't put my finger on it…

There was a little annoyance in the man's tone when he replied, "Well It's not my fault I'm suffering from anesthesia. I can't remember much as it is, how could I remember a certain guild?"

The boy grunted and sighed, "I'm _not _saying that you have to remember anything. I'm just telling you why threatening doesn't work. Do you understand that?"

I glanced at Ritsu and Leah. Leah was struggling against her bindings with even more force than I was earlier. Ritsu was motionless. I could only guess he was trying to come up with a strategy of some sort.

I looked down at he boy's feet. I noticed that he had a sword with him and my sword was next to his. I didn't feel them when he was carrying me, but his sword looked familiar…

It was the same sword that the boy had in the blacksmith's shop…

Then I realized it. This is the same boy I fought in the blacksmith's shop.

I was starting to piece things together. If the boy knew Aito was here… then Aito must have helped the boy in some way in blacksmith's shop… unless they talked before hand… but I think my first assumption is right.

I'm guessing Aito can use some kind of magic to make people look different… or make anything look different when I think about the strange bindings that Ritsu and Leah have…

I listened back in to the boy and Aito's conversation, "Those are some strange bindings you managed to make Aito…"

Aito gave him a small smile, "Yeah."

Then I got the answer I wanted. If Aito made Ritsu and Leah's bindings and made the boy look different earlier…

Aito can use illusion magic.

He must have changed the rope keeping Ritsu and Leah back to something they can't get out of.

I have a great idea.

"Ritsu! Leah!" I called out to them, "the pale man uses illusion magic! You're probably just tied back with normal rope! Free yourselves!"

I smirked up at the boy and adult now staring wide eyed at me. Then I watched Ritsu smile as he burned through his bindings with ease and Leah changed hers into a pair of scissors.

Our captors now had their attention set on Leah and Ritsu, who looked like they were ready for complete rebellion.


	20. Chapter 19: Requip: The Blacksmith

Chapter 19

Lucy POV

_At the Shooting Star Guild… _

Wendy and I finally managed to emerge from our table a good hour after the fight started because Master was talking with Shooting Star's Master. I was so happy when Master finally got everyone to stop though. I wanted to end it the _entire _time, but… I'm not strong enough for that…

"What do you kids think your doing?!" Master screamed at the previously fighting guild members.

Everyone stopped dead in their tracks.

Both Natsu and Gray had each other by the collar, Erza was standing straight up, Laxus' hands were sparking, Canna had at least two cards in her hands, and everyone else looked like they were about to attack again.

Master whispered something to Master Nokoshi and coughed before speaking to us, "As much as you _seem _to be enjoying each other's company, we need to get back to the guild hall," Master did a small sigh, "we can't stay here forever…"

I looked outside one of the windows to realize that the sun was _setting _now. We left as soon as everyone made it to the guild hall, which was easily in the morning hours. We _really _lost track of time.

As the other Fairy Tail members started to say their goodbyes and filed out of the guild hall, I put my hand on Wendy's shoulder,

She flinched a little, "You ready to start searching?" I asked her.

She gave a determined smile and nodded. I walked over to the other members of my team to ask them if they wanted to help too.

I yelled their names before asking them anything, "Hey everyone, have you seen Hono?"

All three of them looked to the sky before replying,

Natsu looked at me, "Nope."

Erza looked at me too, "I haven't seem him."

Then Gray, "Me neither."

I sighed, "Can you help Wendy and me search for him? Since everyone from his team was taken, I'm a little worried that he might have been taken too."

Natsu put his hands behind his head, "Why not? It wouldn't hurt to look and we haven't seen him at all since the attack ended."

Erza started getting more serious, "I agree. You're right that he could be taken along with the rest of his team. We definitely don't want that to happen."

Gray sighed, "Yeah, that's the last thing we want."

I started to walk around to look for clues, "Yeah! Let's start!"

_With Jason, Ritsu, and Leah… _

Jason POV

I smirked at my ex-captors again. I was still tied up, but Ritsu and Leah had both the boy and Aito on their heels. I have to admit though… the boy and Aito were strong wizards…

Ritsu enveloped his fists in a blue fire and swung them backwards and forwards, "Frozenflame dragon wing attack!"

"Requip!" the boy changed his original sword for another one that looked similar to my water sword, except that it had a symbol on it just like the other one.

What kind of magic is that?...

A hydro sized cannon of water came out of the sword when he swung, trying to block against Ritsu's attack. It was somewhat successful. It put out the flames in the attack, but the ice half of Ritsu's attack ended up freezing the swipe. He swung again to cut the ice in half.

I could see that the boy was sweating at least a little. I don't know if it was from the weather or the fight. I started to try and get out of the rope I'm trapped in. The boy and Ritsu continued to fight.

Ritsu glanced at me for a second then he ran as fast as he could to get behind me. _What the?... _I couldn't wrap my head around what his strategy was… Then my eyes widened when I saw a sword covered in sand coming right at me. I closed my eyes and braced for impact.

Then I felt all the rope fall off of me. I felt Ritsu's arms holding me up. When he let me go, I stared at him wide eyed. I mouthed, _Are you insane? _to him and he gave me a wide smile back.

I immediately requiped my rock sword, which like the name says, is completely made out of rock. Then I threw it up into the air and started to disassemble the pieces of them and make upgrades.

This is my magic. It's called Requip: The Blacksmith

When all of the upgrades were finished, I got into a fighting stance and yelled,

"Rock sword level 2!"

The boy was too astonished to do anything. The rock in my sword was now two times stronger than it was before I upgraded it and the hilt looked slightly more detailed. I lunched forward and swung my sword.

It was a direct hit.

The impact from the swipe pushed him back a few steps. To my surprise, he smirked at me and did a small laugh,

"So our observations were right. You do use a new kind of requip magic…"

I could feel myself getting angry, "Why does that matter to you?! _You _obviously use a new kind requip magic! What's yours?!"

The boy laughed loudly this time, "You don't need to know that information. I'll tell you when we fight again. If you even get to that."

I clinched my teeth and glared at him. Our swordfight continued.

We didn't do any more flashy stuff then. We swiped each other furiously until the other started to give out. There was one problem though. Every time he swung his sword more sand would go into the air. Eventually it got so murky that I couldn't even see him.

This is bad…

I couldn't even see what Ritsu and Leah were doing. I'm guessing their fighting Aito. I was starting to get the feeling that Aito was creating this sandstorm with his illusions as well as help from the boy's sword… With the skill I've seen Aito use, he can probably keep someone in a complete second reality if he really wanted to.

I heard a cocky voice behind me, "I think we'll take our leave now. We were only here to question you. Better not let our hands get too dirty!"

The smoke lifted a few seconds later. Leah started to scream in the direction I'm guessing she thought they escaped in, "Come back you creepy cowards!"

She was shivering in anger. I sweat dropped a little. Knowing her personality and abilities… I'm surprised she let them get away without giving us at least a few answers…

I glanced at Leah before telling her, "Hey Leah, we should try and find everyone else. We can worry about beating them later."

Right when she heard my voice, she turned to me with a harsh glare. I jerked back.

Then her expression softened and she sighed, "Your right. We'll be able to fight them better as a team."

Ritsu had a sly smile on his face, "Hey Jason," he asked me, his voice light, "are we going to use _something _to make searching faster? Like the _car_?"

I smiled at him. I forgot about the car! That'll make our lives so much easier! "That's a great idea Ritsu! The car should work great! I'm glad I asked Reo to modify it to allow us to compress it and decompress it!"

Then I saw Leah's mortified face right up next to mine, "No… Jason… Let's not do that…"

I felt myself blush slightly because she was so close to me, but I brushed it off immediately and replied to her firmly,

"Leah, we have an opportunity to not have to walk near as far as we normally would. I'm not going to let it go to waste."

"Please!" Leah continued to beg, "You know how my motion sickness is!"

"Leah…" I could tell by Ritsu's tone of voice that he was starting to get frustrated.

I smiled. I can't help mentioning this, "Hey Ritsu, you know that if we use the car, _you're _going to be the one diving it right?"

I could see Ritsu's face flush for a second. I really got him this time!

"I don't care," Ritsu's voice shook a little.

Leah started to mess with him now, "You sure? The last time you drove us you were complaining about how _long _and how _boring _the drive was for you."

Ritsu's gaze sharpened, "You know we're still taking the car no matter what you guys say right."

I laughed, "Of course I know that! I'm not against it. I just couldn't help mentioning that."

Leah resorted to sulking in the nearest corner after hearing this. I did a small laugh. She hasn't changed at all.

I took the compressed square out of my pocket and started to unfold it. Eventually, with enough unfolding, the square became a workable magic mobile. Ritsu walked over to were Aito was previously standing to get his backpack and Leah continued to sulk.

She really didn't get that long to do it though…

Once Ritsu's backpack was on his shoulders, he grabbed his sister by the collar and literally dragged her into the car. I climbed in the back seat were Leah had already taken one of the window seats. Ritsu climbed in the front and attached the SC plug to his arm.

Then he started driving and we started to talk about everything we've been avoiding since this all began.


	21. Chapter 20: A Sad Past and Future

Warning! This has very light spoilers for the Oracion Seis arc and the Tenrou Island arc.

* * *

Chapter 20

Jason POV

We've been driving for at least 30 minutes with no luck… It was almost completely dark now. I could see stars from outside the window. It was so quiet that I could almost fall asleep.

I looked over at Leah. She managed to fall asleep after gagging the entire time. I smiled and felt a little bad for her. I looked outside the window again and let my thoughts consume me.

Even after we managed to hide for so long…. They found us… Well… the people who kidnapped us….

It's been so long that I even forgot their name until now. They've always been _them _to me, not _Endless Nightmare. _Even though now that I think of their name, it's very fitting for their goals.

I sighed. Why is all of this coming back to me now? Eighteen years in the future (seven years ago for us), Endless Nightmare showed up as one of the main guilds in the Barram Alliance. The Magic Council, which actually managed to survive for over a decade, ordered that Endless Nightmare be defeated immediately.

The light guilds started to team up again, like with the Oracion Seis. But, the teams were much larger this time. Almost every powerful member of our guild went on this mission to defeat them…but none of them made it back….

This obviously included our parents. My dad wasn't part of Fairy Tail, but his guild was involved voluntarily, so he was there too. When some of the townspeople, who figured out what happened before we did, told us the news that they "died," everyone was devastated.

But everyone who's with me now didn't believe that, we searched for years to find everyone with no luck, until Ritsu snuck onto one of Endless Nightmare's airships. He found our parents' bodies _alive _and in this strange kind of slumber. Ritsu managed to escape after that to tell us the news. We could hardly believe it when he told us.

We managed to get on the main airship that their guild master was on. We managed to get though everyone but the Commanders and their master. They were all collected into one room. Before we got to do anything, their master explained that he locked all the light guild members into a sleep of endless nightmares using the Dream Key. He muttered something before breaking the key and sending all of us into the time period we're in now.

We assume that there is a piece in this time, so we searched for months without finding anything. We were starting to run out of supplies after a while…so we became bandits to survive… and now we're here.

I looked over at Ritsu, "Hey Ritsu…. Do you think the two people who captured us were two of the Commanders?"

Ritsu had his eyes on the road, but he took a few seconds to answer, "I know they're from Endless Nightmare. I saw Aito's guild mark while he was questioning me… Considering how strong they are…. They probably are Commanders…."

I did a small smile and looked over at Leah, I asked Ritsu softly, "Do you remember Leah's first name?"

Ritsu flinched a little after I said that. I jerked back a little in response, but he replied, his voice full of sadness, "It's Nashi… But, she stopped going by it when our parents were captured… Remember? It brought back so many memories that she told us to stop calling her by it…"

I nodded solemnly, "Did the guy do anything to your stuff?"

Ritsu's voice seemed happier, "No, thankfully."

I smiled in relief. I noticed that Ritsu had put his father's scarf back on. I think he would never take it off if it weren't for disguise purposes.

Once we were in a fairly open area of the forest, Ritsu stopped the car for the night. I carried Leah out of the car as carefully as I could and set her down on a blanket that Ritsu laid out. Ritsu was lying on a nearby log looking at his scarf.

I pulled out my sword and felt sadness start to consume me. My mother gave it to me on my forth birthday… the day before she started training me…

I asked Ritsu, "Do you wear that scarf to remind you of Natsu?"

He nodded, "Yeah… It was the only thing left behind before they took everyone… It's almost like a reminder that we're trying to rescue _everyone, _not just Dad. You know?" then he looked at me, "Does your sword remind you of Erza?"

I nodded too, "She gave it to me the day before she started training me…. It was a birthday present."

Ritsu gave me a smile; "I think everyone would be proud of us for doing this…"

I smiled and stared at the ground, "Yeah…."

I walked away from where I was standing to take one of the many blankets out of Ritsu's bag and laid down looking at the stars. Ritsu started setting up his "bed" too and laid down.

Once we were settled, Leah woke up from her nap. She sat up and looked at us, drowsiness clear on her face. It took her only a few seconds to see Ritsu's scarf. Right after she saw it she turned away and tucked herself into a ball."

Ritsu looked to the ground, letting his hair cover his eyes. I got up and walked over to her.

"Hey Leah," I put a hand on one her small shoulders, "are you ok?"

She nodded and swatted my hand away. I slowly walked away after that. I don't think she wants to be bothered right now…

Right before I turned around, I noticed that she had a golden Celestial Spirit key in her hands connected to a medium sized ring. Then I was reminded that Leah had something to remember everyone too…

I looked to the ground saying nothing while I walked back to my blanket. I flinched when Ritsu started talking to me again,

He must have noticed something, "In case you're wondering. It's Aquarius' key."

The mood was starting to get to me, "Don't you think I already know that?" I snapped at him.

Ritsu did a small sigh, "I know that," he rested his head on one of his hands, "I just hate it when the mood gets like this… It's too depressing."

I nodded, "I know, but talking about Aquarius' key… I'm surprised that Reo was even able to fix it after Leah managed to find it in a lake…"

"I was surprised too," then Ritsu giggled a little, "You have no idea _why_ she found in a lake though." Leah flinched when she heard her name

My mood brightened, this was intriguing, "Really? Is it that funny?"

Ritsu started to laugh now, "Oh yeah, but I'll let Hono tell you the rest of the story later."

I laughed; Hono can be a good storyteller, "Remember when you first met Mira?"

Ritsu sighed loudly, "Don't remind me, " his voice was full of playful exhaustion, "She wouldn't stop hugging me and ranting about how much I look like Dad…"

I laughed even harder, "It wasn't _just _Mira that did that either. Almost everyone in the guild was freaking out about how much you look like Natsu, and you _really _are the external copy of your father. You know that right?"

Ritsu laughed and shook his head, "Yeah I know that. It's really funny how everyone knows exactly who my father is once they look at me."

I leaned back on my blanket; "You take more after your mother on the inside though."

Ritsu scratched his head, "Yeah I guess so. Leah is more of a mixture inside and out, but she takes more after Dad in the personality department."

I did a light laugh, "Yeah, you can say that again," then I gave him a sly smile, "you really did put a _lot _of effort keeping the fact you were a dragon slayer a secret from everyone though."

Ritsu raised his voice a little, "Well I had to! I couldn't just give away Hono's and his parents' secret like that!"

I laughed again and looked at the sky again, "You know, once we came to this time's Fairy Tail… We started to let ourselves get confortable again. So much that we started to forget why were there in the first place. It was like we were running away from our problems…"

I saw that Ritsu was looking at the sky too, "Yeah… We did let ourselves start to get lazy…"

I got up and walked over to Ritsu's blanket and smiled, "How about we make an agreement not to run away anymore?" I held out my hand.

He got up to, "Yeah. We can't afford to run away anymore."

I looked over at Leah who flinched once she felt my eyes on her; I walked over to her and yanked her onto her feet.

"Come on Leah! There's no way your getting out of this!"

She sighed and put her key ring onto a ring in her pants. She turned to me. Her face looked a tad bit flushed, but it didn't matter. Ritsu walked over and the both of us gave her a big smile,

"It's ok Leah," Ritsu said to her softly, "We'll fix this together!"

I nodded quickly. Then she got up and gave us a small smile. The only smile she's done the entire evening. All three of us put our hands on top of each other's,

"For not running away anymore…." We all said in union.

"Let's save everyone!"


	22. Chapter 21: The Plasma Dragon Slayer

Chapter 21

Jason POV

We left as soon as dawn struck, but… Leah had some issues getting up… Ritsu and I were trying to force her to wake up…

I had one arm and Ritsu had another, "Come on Leah! Time to get up!" I said to her, my breath catching in my throat because of me trying to tug her up.

She yanked herself out of our grasp and moaned.

One of Ritsu's eyes twitched, "Leah if you keep doing this, you might have _at least _as much sleeping issues as Gary…"

Leah moaned again and put her hands over her head.

I walked over and whispered into one of Ritsu's ears, "We have to go to drastic measures don't we?"

Ritsu sighed and whispered back, "Yes, we do."

Ritsu bent down and lit a small flame coming from his hand. He put his hand to the edge of the blanket and it caught fire immediately.

Right when it started burning, Leah shot up and changed a nearby rock into movable water to put it out. She gave us a horrified look.

"WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT FOR?!" She screamed at us at the top of her lungs.

Ritsu scowled at her and shrugged, "You weren't getting up, so we decided to give you some _extra incentive_."

Leah stood and stomped over to Ritsu and punched him on the shoulder. It looked painful… Then she turned to me and gave me one of her scariest death glares. I shivered.

Ritsu barely flinched at her punch and glared at her, but not near as harshly as she just did to me… Leah turned away once she met his eyes and starting packing up her blanket. We didn't speak again until we were at our next stop.

Most of the ride was really boring. No one said anything and I just spent most of it looking outside the window. Leah was too busy gagging to really do anything else… and Ritsu was busy driving.

We stopped at the edge of the forest to take a break from the _path _(the forest wasn't developed enough for it to be called a road…). I said to Ritsu, finally breaking the silence between us,

I looked behind one of the tall, leafy plants, "Hey Ritsu… Do you know that there are ruins behind this bush?"

I could feel Ritsu giving me a strange look, "No… Can I see?"

I stepped away so Ritsu could see them for himself. I saw him tense a second after he started looking.

"See?" I spoke softly, almost a whisper, "there are ruins."

Ritsu's voice was shaking a little, "Umm Jason, these aren't just any ruins…"

I felt a shiver go though my body, "W-what do you mean?"

"This was a small village town," Ritsu continued, "but… what is it doing here?..."

Now I was getting confused, "What are you talking about?"

Ritsu's voice continued to shake, "This village is from our time… Something must have happened to bring it back… and… it didn't look _anything _like this in our time."

My eyes widened in shock, but I was even more confused now… "How do you know so much about this village? I don't remember anything about it."

Ritsu's voice was normal now; "No one was with me when I came across it. This was where I infiltrated one of Endless Nightmare's ships the first time. They were about to attack the village… and I'm guessing all of this damage is their fault too…"

Now things were starting to make sense, "Do you know why?"

Ritsu shook his head, "No."

"They might have wanted someone living there…" I jerked back to face Leah once I heard her voice behind me. Man that scared me.

Ritsu's voice was flat, "I think your right. I can't think of anyone though."

There was a moment of silence after that. Then suddenly, Ritsu stood up and put his arm in front of us.

I could hear Leah whisper angrily behind me, "What are you doing?!"

Ritsu did a quick "shh" and quietly walked forward before explaining,

"I hear people."

We shut up after that. Ritsu was right. After a few minutes, I could hear footsteps. They weren't far.

When they got closer, was when I could start to hear voices.

One was a boy's voice, it was soft, but it sounded like he was our age, "Why are we back here again? It's the _third _time."

Another voice sounded like it belonged to a young girl the same age, she sighed, "I don't know. Maybe I have a secret fondness for this place that you don't know about."

The boy did an even softer sigh, "The first time was to destroy this place. The second time was to get _this girl, _and now it's the third… I don't think I'll ever understand you."

The girl laughed, "I don't think you want to." Right after she finished her sentence, I heard her grunt.

I took the chance of being caught and pushed Ritsu behind me to take another look from the bush. Ritsu gave me a questioning look when I pushed past him, but he didn't try and stop me.

I felt my breath catch in my throat with what I saw…

The _girl _the boy was talking about was _Mia _

I pushed myself back into the woods as fast as I could. There was a loud thump when I fell that I'm sure they heard. I heard Leah seethe at me as quietly as she could before whispering to me angrily,

"What do you think your doing?! Do you want to get caught?!"

I gave her a small glare that I regretted once I saw the harsh glare she was giving me. She shoved me forward and crossed her arms, but didn't chastise me anymore after that. I sighed as softly as I could. I should have expected that…

I heard footsteps coming towards where we were hiding. I felt myself starting to sweat, and…. I felt some pangs of anger and guilt too. If they find us, it'll be all my fault.

My worst fears at the moment were realized when the girl pushed back the leaves and looked me square in the face. She was glaring at me first with a frown, but a few seconds later it turned to a smirk.

"Hey girl!" she called to Mia after grabbing onto the collar of my shirt, "you know these guys?!"

The girl yanked me forwards. I looked at Mia. She looked mortified,

"WHAT ARE YOU GUYS DOING HERE?!" she screeched at us.

The girl laughed and the boy looked completely blank, like he didn't care. Mia gave her a harsh glare. A glare that would scare me half to death, but it only made the girl smirk more.

All three of us prepared to fight. I stood up and glared at the girl, my sword in hand. She stepped back, her movements suggested arrogance.

"So you want to fight us for her?" her smirk widened, "I'm game."

I charged at her and started swinging my sword franticly. When we stopped for a second, I glanced at the boy. He was shaking his head. I gave him a glare, but he didn't notice or didn't care.

The girl looked at me in the eyes, "Where is your magic _Jason_?" though her next words were a compliment, it felt like an insult, "I expect more of a challenge from the son of the infamous Erza and Jellal Fermandes."

I growled. Her attitude is annoying. I'll show her what I'm really capable of…

"Frozenflame dragon roar!" came Ritsu's voice from in front of me.

The girl braced herself, clearly not ready for a double attack. When the blast of ice and fire reached her, it exploded and pieces of ice flew in all directions. The "smoke" from the blast blocked her from view. I felt fear begin in me. We can't see her now…

To my relief, she didn't do anything. She had her fists clinched and to her sides. She looked at Ritsu with a satisfied smile, but her eyes showed another story. She was surprised.

"You're a dragon slayer?" the slyness in her voice was gone. It was replaced with only curiosity. I looked sharply at her. Her face looked tense, like she was resisting something.

I glanced at Ritsu. He looked surprised by her sudden change in attitude.

His voice was low, "Obviously, why do you want to know?"

The girl's face got even more tense and she pushed herself back some. When she replied, her slyness returned, "Why?..." her smirk returned and she got into a fighting stance and a blue substance appeared on her hands, "Plasma dragon wing attack!"

Her attack was aimed towards Ritsu. He was too stunned to do anything, even move… I requiped into my lighting sword and charged after her in effort to protect Ritsu.

But I wasn't quick enough.

I could feel my life going in slow motion. Right before the girl's fists touched Ritsu's still body, iron clad tanks appeared around her and a gigantic silver magic circle appeared under her with tints of green.

She froze as soon as she saw them. I heard screams from Leah and the newly freed Mia, "Change!" Leah's eyes were bright with excitement, "Rock monster!"

Mia looked confident, "Iron make tank army!"

I watched completely still as a huge fish-like monster of rock game up from Leah's magic circle and swallowed the girl whole. A few seconds after, Mia's tanks started firing enough ammunition to last a decent sized army for a month.

I felt myself whisper, "Is it over?..."

No, not even close.

I heard the girl scream from inside of the monster, "Plasma dragon shield!"

Then a circular shield of the blue substance, which I assume is plasma, surrounded the girl. The substance disintegrated whatever rocks from Leah's monster that fell on it. It kept her afloat too; her hands were in the shape of a circle and were near her stomach.

Then she pushed her hands outward, "Expand…"

Ritsu and I braced ourselves. The girl's protective circle expanded and engulfed the rest of Leah's monster and all of Mia's tanks in one shot…

How powerful is this girl?!

Once the debris from her attack cleared, I could see her fall forward some before catching herself. Arrogance still filled her voice,

She was a little out of breath, "I didn't expect that sneak attack there… You got me on that one…" Before she could say any more, I heard a sigh from where Mia used to be.

I turned to face the boy as soon as I could. I saw two multicolored magic circles in his hands. His eyes were slanted, ready for battle.

He spoke in the same soft voice tone as before, "Elemental magic…" he started then he put his hands to the ground, "earth type three, earthquake…"

The ground began to shake as soon as his hands reached the ground. Then the ground split from that point and started to pull in two opposite directions. It was going in the diction of….

Leah and Mia

And they didn't even know it was coming…

I started to panic, "Iron sword level three!" I screeched as I requiped and reconfigured my iron sword. I swung at the quickly proceeding crack of earth as fast as my body would allow.

The swing cut a large line in the earthquake's path, leaving a coat of lightly colored steel in its aftermath. That was the ability of my iron sword. It's iron structure would rub off on anything it touched, leaving coating every time.

I gave the boy a glare. His hair was covering his eyes. He opened his hand and clinched it together.

I had no time to stop anything now.

The ground beneath Mia and Leah exploded leaving them in mid-air. I stood there waiting for them to fall with me unable to do anything. Then in a split second,

I saw red and blue colored dragon wings fly by and Hono carrying Mia and Leah in the air.


	23. Chapter 22: Sealed Ones

Chapter 22

Jason POV

I could barely believe my eyes. _Hono _saved Leah and Mia.

Well… Him saving them isn't shocking, but the fact that he was here was!

I gave him a big smile of relief as he made his way to the ground. I couldn't really tell what Leah and Mia's facial expressions were saying, but it looked like a mixture of shock and joy. The three of them walked over to me.

Hono smiled at me and spoke normally, "I'm so happy everyone's ok."

I gave him a grin. He was probably more emotional about the situation than he was letting on. He was always the type of person to keep things to himself. I sighed internally. I guess it's just his nature.

Leah was a bit more enthusiastic about Hono than Mia was, but I could tell that she was still very happy to see him,

Leah sighed, "Thank goodness you're ok! How in the world did you find us?!"

Hono scratched his head, "Well… I just followed your scent on a note that was left at the guild saying that a guild called Shooting Star stole you."

Both Mia and Leah looked horrified, "Umm… You didn't go and attack that guild right?" Mia asked him fear laced in her voice.

Hono sighed, "We did attack them…"

Then Mia let loose, "Did they have a girl named Maylon with them?! I'm sure that's the guild mentioned in her diary!" then her face got a little murderous, "Please tell me you didn't kill any of them?..."

Hono started to look uncomfortable, "Whose diary?... and no we didn't kill any of them… It was stopped by their master and a couple of their members before anything really bad could happen…"

Mia's face softened, "A girl named Maylon. I found her diary in one these houses." She pointed at one of the circular houses.

I sweat dropped, I have no idea what's going on… "Umm… What are we talking about? When did you go to this village Mia?"

Mia turned to me and explained, "I walked over here looking for my brother and Ren. I never found them, but I did walk into one of the houses and found Maylon's diary."

I could see Hono start to sweat a little, he gulped, "Maylon is my aunt… I haven't seen her in years… I saw her at the guild. She was one of the members who stopped everything…"

Mia's eyes widened, "So the diary I found is your aunt's?..."

Hono nodded.

Then Leah gasped like she remembered something, "So she's one of your mom's sisters?! Like one of the two that were weren't found when your family was attacked by that absorption dragon?!"

Hono flinched and nodded slowly.

Now I'm lost again, "Umm… Hono… When did you tell us your family was attacked by the absorption dragon?"

Hono's voice started to show his emotion, "I don't really want to talk about it…"

I left him alone about it after that. _I guess dragons have conflicts with other dragons sometimes… _I figured.

Suddenly, I heard the girl's voice calling, "Hey! I know your having a happy family reunion and all, but did you forget we're here?" She chuckled evilly when she finished.

Hono glared at her. His body was tense and ready to fight, "If you know anything about me… then you know what I'm capable of. Dragon slayer or not, you'll have your hands full with me."

I chuckled again, "I know _exactly _what you are _Mr. Dragon_. Don't underestimate the power of a dragon slayer. We do have _slayer _in our name, but with you I have almost nothing to worry about."

Hono was definitely angry now, but his voice showed almost none of it, "Someone should teach you to have some more respect. Dragon slayers of this day usually have a lot of trouble beating a dragon…"

The girl laughed again, "I'm not talking about me beating you," she pointed to the sky, "I'm talking about _him._"

We all looked up to the sky and much to my horror, we saw a figure similar to Hono making his way to the ground. I stared at him wide-eyed. I _know _that he and Hono are of the same kind.

It wasn't until the new boy reached the ground that I realized that he was carrying Gary and Julia.

I didn't know how to react.

The new boy didn't take any notice of me and looked straight at Hono. The new boy had extremely light brown hair, and two-colored eyes. One was a purpleish black and the other was a leaf green. He was a little tanner than Hono and he had the same build. He was a little taller though, and like Hono, he had a chain like seal with his respective elements on a circle in the middle.

He stared blankly at Hono. The new boy spoke first,

"It's been a long time, Hono"

Hono glared at him harshly, "Don't give me that nonsense! Where were you? We looked for months!"

Then I fully remembered who this guy was…

The new boy gave Hono a small smirk, "Come on, that's no way to treat your _cousin._"

"Second cousin technically," I heard Hono mutter under his breath before speaking loudly, "Well I guess I don't need these contacts anymore. No point in one of them falling out while I'm beating you into the dirt."

Hono started talking out his brown colored contacts to reveal his multi-colored eyes; one being the same brownish red as his hair and the other an icy blue. I glanced over to Gary and Julia, who were making their way over to us. The new boy dropped them once he saw Hono.

Julia ran over to me while Gary walked behind her slowly, looking fed up. Julia's voice was full of relief and happiness, I could see tears in her eyes, "I'm so happy you guys are ok! I was worried!"

The weather already seemed a little brighter, "Honestly I thought we were going to die," Gary sighed after a few seconds.

I sweat dropped; it takes a lot for Gary to admit something like that… "I can tell…" I answered him, disturbed by his words.

Gary gave me a sharp gaze, "You do know what he is right?"

I got serious, "Of course I do. He has the same seal as Hono."

He gave me a sharp nod.

Julia did the job of pointing out the obvious, "Umm… are we _prepared _for a fight against Sealed Ones?"

Everyone looked down on her like a parent to a child, "No."

Julia's gaze sharpened to a rare glare at every single one of us.

She threw her hands up, "You don't have to treat me like a child!"

We gave her another look.

I could feel the wind kicking up.

I looked at Gary, "I think we should stop…"

He sighed, "You're looking at me?"

I suddenly felt the aura of two dragons right beside us about to do battle. Well… two dragons in human form. I have a really bad feeling…

The new boy shrugged, "Do you really want to fight here, _Hono_? If we fight, we'll probably end up killing someone."

Hono's teeth were clinched, "If you or any other of your _friends_, ever hurt mine again, you'll be dealing with one of the biggest fights of your life, _Yuma_."

So this is the Yuma Hono told us about before, "Then show me what you got, my little cousin. Show me that you can actually beat me."

They said nothing more after that. Their fight started as a simple, superhuman paced fistfight. They were moving so fast that I could barely see them. Everyone who was there just stood there watching them fight, even the girl and other boy.

After a few seconds their fistfight became a flying fistfight; both of them showing off their first seal dragon wings with full glory. It was a spectacle for sure.

Despite the tenacity of their fight at the moment, I know that they're holding back.

_Really _holding back.

I tensed as I continued to remember the structure of their seal. It was divided into three stages that we all began to call seals after learning of it. The weakest seal, first seal, allows the person to bring out one of their dragon traits. An example would be the wings they are using now.

Second seal is in the middle and shows a complete 50/50 of dragon and human traits, making them look like a dragonoid with scales, wings, sharper fangs, and claws, but still with a human stature and size.

Third seal is the most powerful of them all. It shows the person's complete dragon form before the seal was put on them….but if they force that state they can only stay in it for five minutes or risk breaking the seal completely and loosing their human form….

They are only using first seal right now…

Suddenly I heard a noise coming from one of the nearby houses. All of its windows and its doors were destroyed and there were holes in the walls. Without thinking about the consequences, I walked over to the house slowly.

I walked into the broken door and started looking around. It was a small house and it was the same cylinder shape as the others. After finding no one anywhere else in the house, I made my way to the top floor. It looked like a room belonging to a little girl. I looked around.

I started to have suspicions. _Is this the house Mia went into earlier? _I flinched when a heard a chest shake in the corner of the room. I was tense, but I walked over to the chest and opened it, preparing for the worst.

A huge gust of wind came out once I opened, causing me to fly backwards into the wall. Then much to my complete surprise, little Ren and Reo emerged from the chest; completely without disguise.

Ren looked terrified for a second before catching sight of me. Her short dark purple, black hair was covering her chocolate brown eyes. Reo looked ready to fight.

When Ren saw me, her lips went into one of the biggest smiles I've ever seen her do. She yelled,

"Jason!" She tripped out of the chest trying to get to me. She gave me a tight bear hug around my waist. I smiled down at her.

Reo took his time getting out of the chest, but he jogged to me after Ren left. His face showed delight. I gave him a goofy grin.

"Feel nice to let your blue locks show?"

He sighed playfully and nodded, "Yeah, you can't keep _this _spiky craziness down forever."

I laughed, "Yeah, think of Ritsu's."

Reo brushed it off, "Don't even tell me, his is even crazier than mine!"

We both laughed and Ren giggled against me.

Ren let me go and looked me in the eyes, her face showing childish excitement,

"Jason! Look what we found!" She reached into her pocket and pulled out a small item.

It was a piece of the Dream Key…

I felt excitement course through me. Reo had taken the egg out of the chest and was holding it when I replied,

"Really?! This is it?!"

Ren nodded, happy she was able to help, "Yep."

Reo gave me a smile of satisfaction, "We also found a note entitled The Legend of the Dream Key in one of the other houses."

I got even more excited, "What is it then?!"

Reo drew in a breath of air and started,

"Well…"


	24. Chapter 23: The Legend of the Dream Key

Warning! This chapter has light Oracion Seis and Phantom Lord spoilers.

* * *

Chapter 23

Jason POV

Reo drew a breath of air and started, "Well…"

I looked at him intently and flicked my arms to side, trying to tell him to continue.

He scratched his head, "It's not very detailed, but I think it'll let us know what we're getting into," he sighed again and started reading,

_400 years ago, an evil tyrant of the most powerful country at that time created the Dream Key. Unlike the recent making of Nirvana, this did not have good intent. He created it using black magic similar to Zeref. He used it to oppress his country by sending anyone who opposed him into endless nightmares. _

_ This key could also be used to send someone into endless dreams, because of the same law that affects Nirvana…. but it was never used in that way…_

_ Magic has only been introduced to the world 20 years ago… and they've already used it for their own purposes. However, there was one citizen that did not fear the tyrant. He was the first to receive the ability of magic and had many years to master it. He is the hero of this legend. _

_ After a fight that leveled the whole country and killed many, the hero had the tyrant cornered with no where to go. In a last ditch effort to save his life, the tyrant broke the Dream Key and went to another time. He was never seen again after that. _

_ It is said that each time a piece of the Dream Key is found; it will bring you into the time period where the next one is. _

Reo let out a big sigh, "and that's it…"

My mind could barely even comprehend it, "So… To save our parents, we need to find all of Dream Key pieces in all of these different time periods?..."

After a second, Reo nodded.

I sighed, "Now it makes sense that we were sent to a different time when Endless Nightmare's master broke it…"

Reo looked to the ground and Ren didn't seem like she understood much of what was happening.

I glanced at the key piece that Ren was holding, something wasn't adding up.

I asked Reo, "Then why aren't we going anywhere? We found one of the pieces."

Reo gestured to Ren and she gave him the Dream Key piece. He held out his hand to me to give me a closer look at the piece. I stared at it blankly for a few seconds.

Then it hit me.

They put a small leaf around where they were touching it to keep the piece from activating.

My realization showed in my voice, "So you two _purposely _put a leaf around this after reading the legend to keep yourselves from changing time periods?"

Both Reo and Ren nodded.

Without saying another word, I ran to one of the room's windows and looked at the fight between Hono and his cousin. Nothing noticeable had changed, but I could see that Yuma easily had the upper hand…

Out of the corner of my eye I could see the boy and girl from earlier start to move towards everyone else. Another fight was going to start again… We need to stop this…

I turned to Reo and Ren and looked at them sharply, my body showing its tenseness, "We need to go and activate the key now… If everyone fights now, it's not going to end well…"

Reo crocked his head, "You're not being clear Jason. What are you saying?"

My bangs covered my eyes, "We need to get everyone together and activate this piece of the Dream Key and go into another time…"

Reo let out a frustrated sigh, "I can see your point, but do you ever remember Fairy Tail backing out of a fight like this?"

Panic and frustration started to come, "Forget our pride right now, Reo! We could end up destroying the world with all of these powers clashing with each other!" my eyebrows were as low as they could go, and my voice was low with an undertone of anger, "I have just as much pride in our guild as you do, but I tell you this, Fairy Tail has never "backed out of a fight", but we have retreated. Don't you remember the story of the Phantom Lord War?"

Reo was taken back by my sudden attitude. I rarely went to measures like this, but it really was needed this time.

If we fight now, too many secrets will be revealed.

Reo's eyes were slanted, but not near as much as mine a second ago, "Of course I remember that story," he clinched his fists and gave a heavy sigh, "I don't like the idea of running away, and I'm sure the others are going to give even more of a fit, but I'll trust you."

I smiled at him, flattered that he trusted me. I turned and made my way down the stairs to the house's exit, Reo and Ren right behind me. All four of us (including the egg) came out to see everyone fighting even more intensely than before.

Ritsu and Leah were working together to fight the dragon slayer girl,

She was on top of them, "Plasma dragon talon!" she yelled and kicked down on top of their heads. Both of them fell down into different parts of the nearby woods.

Ritsu pushed blue fire out of his feet to easily fly back over to the girl, but he caught some of the trees on fire in the process. Leah changed one of the trees into flying shoes and came back as quick as she could.

Before anything else happened, a whole forest fire started to happen. I could only stare at it wide eyed. Even though I know Ritsu can use that fire to his advantage, is it really worth it to burn down an entire forest?

Ritsu didn't have any time to waste. He held out his hands and I saw the fire slowly move from the burning trees to his hands. After he managed to get all the fire from the forest concentrated in his hands, he concentrated both of them into small balls. He called over to Hono,

"Hey Hono! Take this!"

Ritsu threw it to the spot where the dwelling dragons were. Hono grabbed it and used it all to punch a surprised Yuma in the face. With the other ball, Ritsu coated it in ice and gave it the shape of bomb. Right as the girl was about to attack again, Ritsu threw the ice bomb right at her.

Once it touched her, it stuck to her. The girl gave Ritsu a look of surprise before Ritsu clinched his fists causing the fire inside the bomb to explode.

It was one of Ritsu's specialties.

The bomb pushed the girl back until she landed on her back on the ground. She had a few new, dark scars and ash marks now, but looked relatively unharmed. She shook as she got up to fight again.

I can't wait anymore. I have to do this _now_.

I ran to the center of the battlefield with Reo and Ren behind me like before. I reqiped my rock sword and jumped high into the air. I modified the sword to level three and aimed my sword to the ground.

I fell and jammed my now more detailed and powerful rock sword into the ground. The earth around the village quaked. It got everyone's attention.

I quickly gestured to all my friends and they came over quickly. Before I could tell anyone what was going on, I grabbed Ritsu and Reo's hands. Everyone else followed, despite them having no idea what was going on. Just as our enemies figured out what was going on, I let the leaf fly off of the Dream Key piece and touched it.

As soon as I felt my hands touch the cold gold of the key, I felt time start to slow and my conciseness started to fade. This was the same as the time we traveled into this time.

When we woke up, we were in a different time.


	25. Chapter 24: Flashback Part 1

Authors Note: I added chapter names to this chapter and the previous ones, so if they suddenly appear don't freak out! I hope you enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 24

Arianna POV

_Once Jason and the others were gone… _

They were gone in an instant. The Fairy Tail members we were fighting…. Master is going to kill us once he finds out. Master is…

I felt drowsiness start to overwhelm me. I could feel my real personality leave me and start to be replaced by one that was not my own. It was normal. I was used to it. I would never be myself long enough to figure out who this other personality belonged to, and honestly at this point, I don't really care.

I felt a slew of foreign thoughts being implanted into my head,

_Master already knows, Arianna._

_ He is already at the village._

_ He was watching the whole time. _

As if it was instinct, I turned around to see Master walking towards us. I glanced at Haden and Yuma; just by looking at them, I could tell that their true personalities were just as gone as mine was.

Master had Aito and Grayson trailing behind him. We all stood there waiting for him. Our bodies would give us no other option.

Master towered over every one of us. He was even taller than Aito, who was a fully-grown adult and at least average height. He didn't look very old either. He was in his mid-thirties at the most, a little older than Aito.

Master looked around the village for a minute before looking at Haden and me with his deep, blue eyes. His voice was laced with pleasure,

"I see that you carried out my order to destroy this village."

"Yes sir," the words forced themselves out of me, "it was a fairly easy job."

Master's voice took on a playful tone when he replied, "Ahh, but you let my precious Dream Key piece get away…" Master had a tight smile, "that does not make me _happy_. It actually makes me very _angry_."

I shivered uncontrollably. I could do nothing to stop it, "I'm sorry sir."

Master placed one of his hands on my shoulder and whispered into my ear,

"It was the reason why I wanted this village destroyed in the first place… even back in our own time…. When that Fairy idiot invaded our ship and told his friends…. About all of the light guild wizards I had under my grasp…"

My eyes widened unconsciously and I shivered even more, I gasped to him, "I'm sorry…"

Before leaving me, he whispered a harsh warning, "Don't defy me again…"

For a second I felt my personality and memory return, I remembered when I realized that... the pink haired one… _Ritsu_ was a dragon slayer like I was. That was the first time in a while that my "second" personality lifted itself a little, and I felt the need to go against it…

Then my time was up, my personality was gone again. I watched Master talk with Haden and saw him give Master a small piece of paper. He brought it to his face and laughed loudly,

He gasped in between breaths, "I can't believe… that old hag… even had the time to write this…"

He tossed it to Aito, his voice teasing, "Bring back any memories?"

I could feel my body rebelling against me, but I felt myself tense. I knew Master was mocking Aito.

Aito read the note emotionlessly, "The Legend of the Dream Key…." He breathed out. He paused, beginning to read the note silently.

For a second I could see him tense slightly, "Nothing really."

Any ability to detect lies had left me a while ago, so I couldn't tell if he was lying or not, but it was always a possibility.

Master continued his mocking tone, his long bangs covering his eyes, "She is right though…. I was and still am a tyrant."

It was silent after that. We didn't need to say anything. Our bodies wouldn't allow us to talk unless it was needed when we were around Master.

With his bangs still covering his eyes, Master gave us another order, "I have made this realization a while ago, my Commanders… but now it is even more clear…."

"We need to destroy Fairy Tail."

….

_With Natsu and the others… _

Lucy POV

I sighed in frustration. We looked around for at least 30 minutes with no luck. We already told everyone else that we were looking for Hono, so we'd be back at the guild hall later… but it was getting really dark now.

I put a hand to my face while shaking my head. Wendy, who was searching near me, glanced at me. I knew that she could see my frustration. She walked over to me,

"Are you okay Lucy?" she asked with concern.

I forced a small smile and nodded, "Yeah, I'm just a little frustrated that's all."

Wendy nodded with understanding, "Yeah, but I know we'll find him eventually!"

Her enthusiasm lifted my frustration a little, "Yeah, you're right!"

A second after our small conversation, I heard Natsu yell, "I found some footprints!"

I felt more hope start in me and Wendy and I ran over to him in excitement. Erza and Gray jogged their way over too, just as excited as we were.

Wendy was grinning happily, "You found footprints?!"

I almost screamed at him, "Really?! You found footprints?!"

He gave us a wide grin, "Why would I yell if I didn't?"

I grinned at him, "Don't give me that! Let's follow them!"

"Let me stiff the ground first…" Natsu bent down and started sniffing the footprints. I did a light sigh, only Natsu…

After a few seconds of sniffing, Natsu stood up and pointed in the direction of the footprints, "This is definitely Hono's sent! Let's go!"

Before bursting into a sprint, Erza sneaked up beside him and gave a light, but bone crushing hug causing Natsu to do a light screech of pain, "Nice going Natsu."

Natsu gasped out a "thanks" before beginning to sprint in the footprint's direction. I laughed before following along with the others.

…..

_In a dream…. _

Third Person POV

During the transition into another time period, the nine children and egg had a flashback of before all this happened…. Before they even knew Endless Nightmare existed… It all starts in Ritsu and Leah's room located in scenic Natsu's house.

You can really see the divide in personality….

Ritsu's side of the room… Well it's covered in finished and un-finished drawings and his secret manga diary was sitting on the wooden desk in one of the corners. He had a small bedside table with an alarm clock and a red and blue bandana that he wore under his hair everyday.

Leah's side of the room was nothing short of a wreck, having inherited her father's…. sloppiness. Lucy attempted to make her side of the room a little more girly by making it pink and having a small mirror, but no matter what she did Leah was 98% tom-boy. One of her few girly traits was her concern for her own fashion style… which didn't really make much sense…

Five-year old Leah and Ritsu were sound asleep in their beds before their shirtless father kicked their bedroom door open and screamed at the top of his lungs,

"IT'S TIME TO GET UP!"

Leah, like usual, ignored him and put her pillow over her head. Ritsu, being more of a morning person, yawned and sat up quietly, scratching his sleepy eyes.

Natsu walked over to Ritsu's bed and pulled him out with little resistance. He pushed Ritsu towards Leah's bed. He whispered to Ritsu playfully,

"How should we get your sister out of bed today?"

Ritsu giggled and shrugged.

Coming up with an idea, Natsu lit a small flame and lightly touched the edge of Leah's blanket. When a little flame started, Leah shot out of bed and started to blow the fire out… only making it worse….

Natsu laughed at his daughter and put the fire out by pinching the now bigger flame with two of his fingers. Leah's face was contorted in childish frustration that made her father laugh more.

"Why do you keep doing that Dad?! _Normal _parents don't _burn _their child's sheets!"

Natsu chuckled, "When did you start thinking I was normal?"

Leah grunted and turned away, Natsu sighed, "Ah, your just like your mother sometimes."

Leah frowned at him and Natsu put his hands around Leah's waist and lifted her out of bed; he gave her a wide grin, "Come on Nashi Leah Dragneel, the daughter of two Fairy Tail wizards doesn't have time to be moping around in the morning!"

Now Leah couldn't help but smile. Natsu put her down and let them get ready. After a few minutes, A fully dressed Ritsu and Leah came down the stairs and into the main living room where their parents were waiting for them, ready to go to Fairy Tail for the day. Well… Lucy was pretty groggy herself from her husband waking her up even earlier than her children. Before the left, Lucy said grudgingly to Natsu,

"Is there a reason why we wake up this early in the morning?"

Natsu gave another wide again, "Nope!"

Lucy's eyebrow twitched and her face darkened. There was no explaining Natsu sometimes…

…

At the Fairy Tail guild, everyone was doing their usual thing. Natsu, Gray, and Gajeel were in some kind of fight, Erza was at the bar with Lucy trying to ignore the fight, Juvia was stalking Gray while still _trying_ to look after her kids, Master was sitting at the edge of the bar talking to Mira, Canna was drinking, Elfman was ranting about how "manly" everything was, the list goes on.

In all of this, was the next generation of Fairy Tail members. They were off doing their own thing while their parents were busy. The only ones left at the guild were Ritsu, Reo, and Jason.

Ritsu walked over to Reo and whispered into his ear, "You make anything new?"

Reo shook his head, "No, not yet," he scratched his head, "For what I want to make… It gives me a headache every time a try…."

Ritsu's eyes widened in surprise, "Really? That's what happens to my sister when she tries to use dragon slayer magic…."

Reo's eyes widened this time, "Really? She gets headaches when she tries to use dragon slayer magic?"

Ritsu nodded, "What are you trying to make anyway?"

"It's a machine that can turn you into a dragon for a short period of time," Reo explained, "It uses dragon slayer magic, but once I try to use it to make the engine…. I get this throbbing headache that lasts for at least a week."

"Oh, that's just like my sister."

"Uhuh."

Ritsu looked around, "Have you seen Jason anywhere? He's usually with you."

Reo shook his head, "No, I haven't seen him… I went over to Erza and Jellal's house earlier to see if he was there, but Erza told me he was already at the guild."

"Oh, I wonder where he is…."

Reo shrugged, "I don't know."

Then Ritsu remembered something very important, "Umm, Reo, what time is it?"

Reo looked at his magical pocket watch that he made himself. The time appeared like a holograph above the watch. Reo customized it a little; it was covered in little mechanic pictures and pictures of Fairy Tail. It had buttons for parts, cell, and a tracker, among other things. It read 9:50.

Ritsu stood up once he saw it, "Shoot! I'm late!"

After those few words, Ritsu ran out of the guild hall as fast as he could. He ran through the East Forest to get the mountain just by there. It was the mountain where the dragons that trained him lived.

Ritsu huffed, "Akio and Leanna are going to kill me!"

After five minutes of sprinting at his best, Ritsu made it to the mountain…. A few minutes late, but Akio and Leanna didn't really care. They were busy…

"HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU NOT TO TURN THE HEAT ANY HIGHER?!" Leanna screeched at the top of her lungs at Akio.

Too angry to be on his nice side, Akio screamed back at her, "DON'T YOU KNOW HOW _COLD_ I GET?! I can't help it!"

"Oh yeah?! Don't you know I get _hot _I get?!"

"That's no reason to let _me _freeze!"

"Well _your _softness isn't a reason for _me _to die of heat!"

Ritsu sweat dropped as he watched the two second seal Sealed Ones fight. He could tell just by looking at them that Akio was on the verge of blowing up their house again. Ritsu's eye twitched,

_Sometimes it's hard to tell that they're actually dragons when they fight like this in semi-human form…._

After about of Leanna freezing the house and Akio burning it, the big moment happened. Akio blew up the house using his magic…

"Molecular change!" Akio yelled before a huge explosion engulfed the house, barely missing Ritsu.

Watching the fight with the same reaction as Ritsu on the other side of the house was Hono, but… unlike Ritsu, he was _very _angry once the explosion's smoke cleared….

Hono was so angry that he was almost on the verge of tears, "Why do you always blow up the house when you fight?!"

Just now remembering about their son, Akio and Leanna turned to him and started to explain,

Akio, back in first seal, scratched his head, "We kinda got carried away… Sorry about that."

More reluctant to give in to her son, Leanna, also back in first seal, crossed her arms, "As much as I hate to admit it, we did get a little carried away…." Then she glared at her husband, "Like we _always _do_." _

Akio's good side returning, he replied with his voice shaking, "What do you mean by that?..."

Leanna was getting frustrated again, "I mean it's almost always your fault. _I _don't have the capability to cause a full-skale explosion!"

Akio was very tense, "Sorry about that…. I do tend to get carried away when I'm angry…"

Leanna gave him an even harsher glare, "Of course you do!"

Akio jerked back in response. During his parents' little argument, Hono made his way over to Ritsu and started talking with him.

Ritsu was still a little freaked out by trainers' fight, "Umm, is there a reason why your parents fight all the time?..."

Hono growled in reply, "Yeah, and it's always about stupid things like the air conditioning…. You have no idea how many times Dad had to rebuild the house…"

Ritsu did a light laugh, "You gotta admit though, it keeps your life entertaining."

That did nothing to soothe Hono's anger, "Exciting or not it gets annoying…." He sighed, "Sometimes I think I might be more mature than my parents and I'm only five…"

After a moment of silence, Ritsu remembered the reason why he was there in the first place. He mentioned it to Hono,

"Hey, when I met you hiding at the guild a few days ago, you told me that you and your parents could teach me dragon slayer magic," Ritsu's voice was soft, "After a few days of thinking about it, I've decided that I want you to teach me."

All the anger drained out of Hono in an instant, "Really?! It would be great to have someone to train with!" Then Hono looked to the ground and snapped his fingers, remembering something, "What was all that talk about being late? I don't remember giving you a time…"

Ritsu couldn't believe what he was hearing, "You seriously don't remember giving me a time?! You told me to meet you here today at 9:55 if I wanted to learn dragon slayer magic!"

Hono put his hand on his chin, then remembered and scratched his head, "Oh yeah…. I did give you a time…"

Ritsu sighed, he didn't expect Hono to be so forgetful when he talked to him at the guild everyday. Getting to business, Hono yelled over to his parents,

"Hey Mom! Dad! My friend Ritsu here wants to learn dragon slayer magic!"

_To be continued_


	26. Chapter 25: Flashback Part 2

Chapter 25

Third Person POV

Akio and Leanna stopped their argument once they heard their son's voice. They stared at him blankly. They were so absorbed in their fight that they didn't really hear what Hono was saying…

"What?" They said in unison, in the middle of grabbing each other's hair.

Hono dragged Ritsu over to where his parents were standing, "This is my friend Ritsu. He wants to learn Dragon Slayer Magic. You can teach him, right?"

Leanna could feel her blood pressure rising. _Did my son really tell a human what we are without even asking first?_ "Hono, why did you tell him what we are?"

Hono's joy drained out of him, "His father is a Dragon Slayer. Heck, Ritsu told me that his father was _raised _by a dragon. Ritsu already knows that we exist, so why not tell him about us?"

Leanna was really getting tired of Hono's sass, but she had to admit it made sense, "You shouldn't talk to me that way…. But to be on the safe side, what is that dragon's name?"

Ritsu answered her nervously, "Umm… His name was Igneel miss…"

Leanna's eyes widened instantly at the name, "Igneel? _The Fire Dragon King?_"

Ritsu nodded slowly.

Leanna could barely believe this, she couldn't help but laugh, "_Igneel, _of all dragons, raised a human child? I never expected that in a million years!"

Both Ritsu and Hono were hopelessly confused, and they both doubted asking any questions would make anything make more sense. Hono wanted some confirmation though, so he asked anyway, "So you knew this dragon? This isn't made up?"

Leanna was still laughing, "No, it's definitely not made up. I'm just surprised," she looked at Ritsu, determination in her eyes, "We'll definitely train you, but you won't be getting either mine or Akio's powers…."

If it were possible, Ritsu got even more confused, "So whose powers am I going to get then?..."

Leanna put her arm around her husband, "You'll get Hono's abilities."

…..

Meanwhile, while Ritsu was beginning his training, Leah was a work with something of her own. It was a secret that she only shared with Ritsu and Reo for the time being.

Leah was sitting in the middle of an open area, deep in the East Forest. Though her magic allowed her to change one object into another, it had other abilities that she kept secret from almost everyone.

She originally called it Change Magic, but the name wasn't really as fitting as she first thought.

Leah didn't really know _what_ her magic was. All she knew was that it gave her the ability to create and change the properties of any kind of magic. She called the properties codes, because it reminded her of the computer codes Reo told her about before.

_A voice inside of my head told me that there was another dimension other than this one; I think creating this will help me find it… _Leah told herself as she prepared a blank, light silver magic circle on the ground in front of her. Her eyes glistened with a strange luster that always happened when she used her magic, even in battle.

Leah started mapping out the magical encodements that she saw earlier that day. It was like a ghost, for a second a guy was there and the next he was gone. Leah did read his magic signature before he disappeared though, so she tried putting them down on a magic circle to see what would happen.

While she was mapping out the encodements, she started to dose off from lack of sleep. Without thinking, she changed a couple of the encodements. When she was finished, Leah skimmed over the magic circle for mistakes. Her eyes went right over the changes she made earlier.

With the circle glowing, she activated it. What she saw was another dimension that looked like an empty, white room with a door on the other side. Leah's gut was telling her not to, but she went inside the magic circle and opened the door anyway.

What she saw was a dimension almost completely without magic. There were hundreds of cars she saw passing by. Less than one percent of them had a readable magic signature. Leah already knew that kind of life they lived was nothing like the one she did…

There were no wizards

There was no Magic Council

There were no guilds

Leah was pretty sure the people that did have magical abilities were not aware of them… Leah sighed, she was sure that _some _people would figure out their abilities eventually. She came up with an idea, _if guilds don't exist in this world, _she looked at the blank, empty room, _then I could create a game where they could experience it…_

From that day on, Leah started to make a game for the people in that dimension to enjoy. With a little help from Reo making a portable game box for her to store her magic circle in, people slowly started to play it. They created their own guilds and used training levels to practice their magic. Of course, it was popular in Fiore's dimension as well.

Little did Leah know, that was not the dimension that the "voice in her head" was talking about.

…..

Along with Leah, Ritsu, and Reo, all of the other kids had their own magic that they kept secret from everyone else. Jason while staying away from many people in the guild because of his shyness, he created a technique all of his own.

Mia, while reading old books about Maker Magic in her mother's library, figured out how to use it with the iron element. Gray and Juvia, like Erza taught their children. Gray taught them Ice Make magic and Juvia taught them Water Magic. However, they didn't realize that Gary and Julia had a special magic all of their own. Among the people they told, they were known as the Triads because of their three magic types.

Wendy was still pregnant with Ren and the egg from before was recently born as the child of Carla and Happy, but within that year, along with Ren's birth, everything would change because of the mission Fairy Tail received from the Magic Council.


	27. Chapter 26: The Game

Chapter 26

Leah POV

Everything was fuzzy when I woke up. I could hear the voices of my friends in a casual conversation. I sighed internally before opening my eyes. For once, someone didn't try to wake me from my beauty sleep…

I sat up and looked around. For a minute, my brain wouldn't register where we were, but it did later.

I couldn't believe it.

We were inside the _game _I've been making since I was five!

Everything was the same since I left it a couple months ago. It looked like a digital wonderland. There were screens everywhere that told you information about the various internal guilds within the game. They were touch screen. All you had to do was touch the guild mark on the home screen or search it's name, then you could find out any basic information you want about any member.

We were in the Town Central, which was where you could buy things with the points you gain from taking on missions, talk with friends from other guilds, find out information, and make your way in and out of the game.

I made region entrances on each side of the plaza after learning that the people here came from different countries like we did. They were called North America, South America, Africa, Asia, Pacific Islander, Europe, and Fiore. There was a large holographic screen above each of them that read for each entering and exiting player:

Profile Name:

Country (with flag):

Rank:

Internal/external guild:

Entering/exiting:

While I was caught up in my nostalgia, Ritsu nudged me on the shoulder,

"Umm, Leah? Hello?"

I snapped into attention, "Yeah?!"

I stood up and looked at Ritsu's face, it looked confused and surprised, "What are we doing here?" he whispered to me.

Ritsu's silent message went right to me, "My only guess is… is that the next Dream Key piece is here…."

Ritsu sighed, "Oh brother…."

I nodded.

I heard Jason in the distance, "So the next Dream Key piece is here? Inside The Game?"

Mia replied to him, sighing, "I never expected this…."

Reo had Ren by the hand, "We should start looking around."

Ren, holding the egg, nodded silently.

Hono was sitting near Ritsu and me, "Are any of you guys aware that we had a flashback before we got here?..."

Everyone stared wide-eyed at him, "Oh yeah…" we all replied in unison.

Hono stood up and I could tell just by looking at his facial features that he was trying to cheer himself up, "Not trying to dampen the mood or anything," his eyes were bright with an idea, "We do have other friends here inside the game; maybe they could help."

I smiled warmly at Hono, trying to help him cheer up, "Yeah, let's check with our friends here first to see if they know anything."

Everyone agreed immediately,

"Yeah!" Ren jumped up and down in excitement.

"That sounds like a good idea," Jason nodded with pleasure.

"I agree," Mia said with a clinched fist, "I haven't seen these guys in a while! It would be good to have a spar to see far they've come!"

Just the thought of fighting got me excited, "Oh yeah!" I smirked at Mia. "You know it's been a while since we had a fight. Want to have a rematch when we get to High Rise?"

Mia smirked right back at me, "Why would I decline that?"

Ritsu stared at Hono intensely, "You know now that you bring up our flashback, it has been a while since we had a fight Hono."

Even though I knew Ritsu and Hono had a rivalry, it shocked me to hear Ritsu talk like that. He's always been the gentler one. As expected, Hono replied with a sly smile, "We should have one then when we get to High Rise. I want to see how far you've come."

Ritsu nodded with a confident smile, "I have a new move I'd love to try."

Hono returned his smile, "I'd love to see it. Bring it on!"

Reo and Ren lead the way, "So we're going to High Rise then?" Reo asked for confirmation.

We all nodded and made our way.

….

We made our way to where High Rise guild bought their land. It was in the wooded outskirts of Town Central. This was never an extremely popular spot to hang out. Many of the more urban players called it the Wooden Wastelands, but to the people who had guilds there called it a Wooden Wonderland.

The High Rise was in the center where a lot of huge oak trees grew. The guild hall was made up of tree houses and zip-lines. I smiled when I looked up at it. It was my favorite guild to visit. I had the most friends in it, and I discovered that I love riding on zip lines. I love feeling the wind on my face.

Reo sent them a message that we were coming on one of the info screens in Town Central, so they already knew we were coming. In the open circle in the middle of the guild hall, stood three of their members. Aiden and Jackson Kalford and Alice Smith.

They happened to be our three closest friends in the game.

I heard Alice's screams as she sprinted over to hug all of us, and before I knew it I was tackled into a bear hug.

I gasped a little from how hard she was squeezing me, I smiled affectionately at her, she screamed to me in excitement, "Where have you guys been?! We haven't seen you in months!"

Alice had an accent to her voice that she called a "British accent" when she explained the difference between her accent and Aiden and Jackson's, who were from the United States while she was from the United Kingdom. It was a little confusing to me because I had never even heard of those countries when she mentioned them to me the first time.

When she let me go, I tried to explain a little, "I'll explain a little later. That's why we're here."

She smiled and gave me one last hug before moving to hug and greet the others. When Aiden and Jackson got to me, I blushed lightly when I saw Aiden. I tried to hide it as best I could. Despite the flashback being correct about me being 98% tom-boy, I'm still a girl. I've had a crush on Aiden for a while now.

There is no way in heck I'm letting _anyone _find out about it.

Sadly, for me, Ritsu already found out a while ago….

I felt myself getting angry just thinking about him telling anyone. If he ever does tell anyone, I might have to strangle him…

Luckily for me, he hasn't…

I gave a small smile to Aiden and Jackson as the walked over to me. I blushed even harder when they stated to talk to me, I tried in vain to hide it,

Aiden put his arm around me; I flinched, "What's up? None of you have been here in ages! We were starting to wonder if you were ok!"

My voice broke slightly from his contact, "It's… It's a long story. We'll explain later."

Aiden smirked at me, "Ok then."

Jackson was Aiden's little brother. Aiden was twelve like many of us we were. Jackson was Ren's age at seven. Alice was a little older at fourteen.

Jackson seemed almost giddy at seeing me, he hugged me around the waist, he was a little shorter than my shoulder now, "I'm glad you guys are ok!"

I smiled warmly at him, I rubbed his hair, "I'm glad to see you too Jackson."

When all of the greetings were done, Alice, being the hostess type, invited us into the guild hall entrance,

She said to us teasingly, "How long are you going to stay out there? Come on in! You didn't message us for nothing, right?"

We all giggled at least a little at her joke. Once she, Jackson, and Aiden started to climb the long, white rope that lead to the big hole that served as the entrance to the guild hall, we followed them.

The hole opened up to a spacious, almost empty, wooden room that was the main building of the guild. The request bored was on the right wall. There were a few members standing behind it looking for jobs.

In the level structure, I created two different kinds of levels. Training Levels and Work Levels. Training levels can be used at any time, but you won't get any money points out of them. Those are the levels I make by hand. The Work Levels are what make up most of the requests on any guild's request bored and are the only levels that you get paid to do. Because all of the players in this game can use magic, these requests are usually auto-generated by the game itself and are like the everyday job requests an external guild in Fiore would receive on a regular basis. Other guilds and players can send jobs too, but it's uncommon.

Also like guilds in Fiore, how many job requests you get depend on your guild's ranking in the game. Your guild's ranking is determined by the place your team gets during the annual All Game tournament that determines the strongest player in the game and the strongest guild in the game.

There were openings in each side of the room with a small sign above each one. The one on the left read _S-Class, _the one in the middle read, _Master's Quarters, _the one on the right read, _S-Class and Above_. Each was connected with a zip-line that leads to the tree house room that it connects too.

I breathed in and sighed, just being here brought back memories. This was one of the first guilds that requested land and permission. It was also home to my first game friends.

When we all got to the top, Jackson pulled on my light blue shirt, "Hey Leah! Look at my necklace! I moved up to silver rank!" He showed the now silver tree pendant on his shark tooth necklace.

I felt happiness go through me for his accomplishment, "Really?! That's great Jackson!"

I didn't show it, but I was surprised that he could reach silver rank at such an early age. Just like there was number a ranking system for the top players and guilds, there was a bronze, silver, and gold ranking system for each player. That showed up in the "rank" area when you entered the game.

Everyone in the game had their guild mark somewhere on their body like any other guild member, but they also had some piece of jewelry on them with a pendant of their guild mark that was made out of the medal of their rank.

Because Aiden and Jackson came from a place they called Florida, they both had shark teeth necklaces with their guild mark hanging in the middle. Every one of my friends from Fairy Tail, including me, had bracelets with their guild mark hanging from the chain. Alice had earrings that were in the shape of her guild mark.

Bronze rank was the beginning rank for any player. It meant you could take on job requests and are part of a guild. Silver rank is a step higher and allows you to take on S-Class quests and on, it is given to you by your guild's master. Gold rank is the highest rank, and it means you are in the place of leadership. Only guild masters and the leader of the game have this rank.

The ranking system works a little differently with people who are in an external guild, a guild outside of the game like Fairy Tail. The rules for gold and bronze rank stay the same, but silver rank depends on how well you do on Training Levels.

Everyone but me is silver rank. I am the only one who is gold rank…

Because I was the one who created the game. The leader.

No one knows that but Ritsu, Reo, and me.

And I'd like to keep it that way.

There were tables and chairs scattered across the room, when we all got settled at a table. Jason started to explain our situation,

"We need you guy's help finding something."


	28. Chapter 27: From the Future

Chapter 27

Leah POV

We all watched Jason carefully as he explained our situation, "We need you guy's help finding something. It's called the Dream Key. We're looking for pieces of it."

Alice was resting her head in her hands, her face showed confusion, "The Dream Key? I've never heard of it. Why are you looking for pieces of it anyway?"

I could feel sadness lash at me just thinking about the answer. Jason's face darkened, "It's a long story…. and something we really don't like talking about… I'll give it to you as briefly as I can."

Jason sighed and began to tell our story, "With us being back in our own timeline… it was seven years ago. You guys know about the Magic Council, right?"

Alice nodded, but Aiden and Jackson looked confused. I inwardly face palmed. Only those two would forget something I've explained to them _so _many times before, "It's the main governing body of the wizards in Fiore," Jason paused after he noticed Aiden and Jackson looking even more confused, "um… It's like a sort of leadership over magic users, higher up than the guild masters."

Aiden and Jackson did a long "oh" after they remembered. After that "simple" explanation, Jason continued, "The Magic Council ordered all the light guilds in the country to send members to defeat a new dark guild called Endless Nightmare. Long story short, they ended up being put asleep by Endless Nightmare's master using the Dream Key."

"Dark guilds are like the bad guys, right? Are you trying to save these wizards that were put asleep by this guy?" Alice was full of questions, "What does this have to do with finding _pieces _of the Dream Key?"

Jason tensed, he was probably a little too vague…. "Dark guilds are like bad guys. They break off from the Magic Council and follow their own rules. Though we are trying to save everyone, the people we usually _think _about the most are our parents and fellow guild members that were in the attack."

Alice nodded, "What about my last question then? Why are you searching for pieces particularly?"

Jason gave her a frustrated sigh, "I'm getting there… How we even found _out _about them being put asleep was Ritsu spying on one of Endless Nightmare's ships. We all invaded it once we came across it again. We overpowered everyone except the Commanders, which are like its elite, and its master. The master ended up breaking the key into several pieces and sent us into another time. We don't know why he broke the key in the first place, it just happened."

Alice's eyes widened in understanding, she did little movements with her hands as she figured things out, "So, you're trying to find all of these pieces so you can use the key to wake up your parents, guild members, and all of those other wizards?"

Jason nodded quickly.

"I have one more question though," Alice inquired one last time, "why would you think a piece would be here? I haven't seen anything suspicious recently."

Jason was quick to answer this time, he continued to speak formally, "One of the properties of the Dream Key is time travel. When it was broken the first time it sent us into the time where the first piece was, we have it now. When we all touched it, it brought us into the time where the next one is. I can only guess that it's here."

Alice nodded and stood up from her seat, "We'll help you find it as best we can. I can't speak for our other guild members, because we're in the re-election period of our mastership right now. We don't have a master as of yet, so there's no one that can force anyone to do anything."

Jason stood and nodded.

I glanced at Aiden, he was tense, like he was fixing to say something. He spoke silently, "There's one small problem…."

Alice glared at him harshly as soon as she heard his voice, "What problem?! Don't you want to help them out?!"

Aiden flinched from Alice's quick reaction, but he quickly became frustrated, "Did you completely forget that the All-Game tournament is two days away? No one is going to let us search while _that's _going on."

We all sweat dropped after hearing that. I _completely _forgot about how close it is… I would have missed it if we didn't teleport here…

Aiden glared at Alice, "With all of the guild teams trying to kill each other and the traps each guild gets to lay down in its territory, the _entire _game space is taken up," Aiden looked to the ground, "plus, I don't want to worry about finding anything during the tournament. I want us to _win. _Both Jackson and I look forward to this!"

All I could hear after that were light screams of defense from Alice to Aiden. With the Dream Key issue, I haven't had any time to set up any of the guild traps…

I'm _so _behind!

The tournament is in _two _days and I haven't set up _anything_! Nothing at all! I felt myself start to panic. How on earth am I supposed to set up everything without anyone knowing?!

Jackson, having just woke up from the little "nap" he had on my shoulder during Jason's explanation, poked me, "Hey Leah! You awake?"

I snapped back to the issue at hand, "Yeah, I'm awake…"

He gave me a suspicious smile, but didn't ask anything.

I glanced over to where Ritsu, Mia, Reo, and Ren were sitting. Mia looked like she was getting ready to explode.

She stood up and slammed her hands on the table, "How long are you two going to argue?!" she yelled at Aiden and Alice, they jerked back once they heard her voice, "The main point of what Aiden was trying to say was that we have a limited time frame to find the key piece. There wasn't a need for all this arguing. Let's get going, we're running out of time already."

Oh she is being so hypocritical, there's no way I'm letting this slide, "Despite that you're actually using your brain for once," I said to her with a smirk, "Why are _you _of all people telling others to stop a pointless argument? You're the queen of them…"

I didn't get the chance to say anything else before I saw an iron bar heading right towards my face, Mia seethed in anger, "Shut up…. You did promise me a fight when we got here…."

She was giving me so many openings. I caught the iron bar as I said, "Oh…" I dragged out the "oh", "And this coming from the girl who just told us to get going because we had a time limit? Huh?"

Mia looked like she was fixing to murder me, she growled, "How many times do I have to tell you to just _shut up_?" she turned her back to me, "We'll settle this later."

I giggled in accomplishment. Awesome blonde girl 1; Grumpy black-haired girl 0.

Reo picked up Ren and put her on his shoulders. She giggled in response. Ritsu reached around for his backpack. His eyes widened when he realized that it wasn't there.

Wait, Ritsu's backpack isn't there….

Ritsu's voice showed his panic, he looked up at Reo and Ren "Um… Reo… Where's my backpack?..."

Reo looked down at where Ritsu was siting, "I thought it was near you…."

Jason, quietly sitting next to Aiden, looked up like he remembered something, he voice shook with realization, "Uh… Ritsu… I think it may have fell off of you when we changed time periods…."

Ritsu stared at Jason in disbelief, "WHAT?"

"I saw it on the ground right before we blacked out…." Jason replied to Ritsu nervously.

I could feel the stress coming from Ritsu and I was a few feet away… "Why didn't you grab it then?! That has my mang…" Ritsu covered his mouth.

Then Jason snapped, "I noticed right as we blacked out! What could _I _do then?!"

Ritsu turned away and growled to himself quietly and started to follow Reo and Ren outside the guild hall as we started to follow him.

I guess our quest continues.

…

_With Lucy and the others… _

Lucy POV

I was huffing as I _attempted _to keep up with Natsu's sprinting. He was at least fifty feet away with Erza and Gray trailing him. Wendy and I were struggling to keep up…

It took us less than a minute of sprinting for Natsu to reach where he thought Hono was. Natsu stopped suddenly causing every single one of us to run into him…

Erza and Gray ended up falling on top of Natsu and Wendy and I ended falling on top of them. After a grunt of pain, I snapped at Natsu,

"Could you warn us next time you decide to stop?!"

Natsu's voice came back in a loud mumble that sounded like gibberish. I could feel Erza's tenseness from under me. Clearly she isn't much happier than I am.

"Could we please get off of each other?..." Erza said darkly with an intimidating aura.

There's no way any of us are going to ignore that, "Yes ma'am!" We stood up straight immediately.

Erza sighed and looked in front of her. When I caught a glimpse of her face, it made me nervous. Her eyes were wide.

It wasn't a while before mine were too.

There was a whole chunk dead forest while the rest was fine; the ground around us looked more than disturbed, craters were everywhere. There were absolutely _no _trees where the craters where. It looked like a battle just happened here….

And somehow we didn't even notice it before now…

"What happened here?..." Gray was at a loss for words.

"I have no idea," I replied to him, still shocked.

Erza regained her composure, "Let's look around."

We all followed her order without question. Wendy and Natsu were sniffing around the area. Erza was searching on her own near the dead part of the forest. Gray and I were searching for any clue of our missing members.

After searching around the center, I felt my foot kick something made out of paper. Curious, I bent down to my knees. I breath caught when I saw it.

It was like a comic diary next to a small, dark green backpack. The title of it was "Fairy Tail Year X817-"

And it said, "written and drawn by Ritsu" right beneath the title.

I picked it up and swiped some of the dirt off of it. I called the others, "Hey guys! Look at this!"

Having heard my voice, everyone jogged over to me,

"You found something?" Natsu asked curiously.

I smiled and nodded, "Look at this."

I held out the comic for everyone to see. Everyone was at least as surprised as I was when I first saw it,

"I've never seen this before…. Even when Ritsu stayed at my place…" Natsu's eyes were surprisingly serious.

"Will this help us find them?" Wendy asked, excitement leaking into her voice.

"So this is a kind of diary that Ritsu was keeping?" Gray asked.

"I'm guessing so." Erza took the diary from my hands.

After a short moment of silence, something clicked in my head,

"That title… Year X817…. I think all of those kids are from the future…"


	29. Chapter 28: Singing Sirens

Warning! There are light spoilers about Blue Pegasus as a guild.

* * *

Chapter 28

Leah POV

_Back in the game…_

We all followed Ritsu out of the guild hall. I have no idea where he's going, but I don't really care right now. I'm way too worried about how _behind _I am than him leading us somewhere ridiculous. I was so worried, in fact that I started to space out.

The Kalford brothers seemed to have the need to bring me back to reality today, Aiden and Jackson poked me on my side, "Leeeaaaahhhh….." they said my name in unison, "quit spacing out…. We have something to tell you….."

I snapped darkly, "What?..."

They jerked backwards, "We have some new information on who the leader is!" Jackson told me excitedly, ignoring my reaction.

I rolled my eyes, not this again, "What did you find?" My voice showed disinterest.

"Jackson and I were searching the info screens in Town Central one day for clues and we found that _Fairy Tail's _screen had _two_ people with gold rank," Aiden said with a confident smile.

What did he just say?….

I flinched and was silent, Aiden continued anyway, "Convincing right? Your guild doesn't have _two_ masters. One member must be the leader!"

My hair covered my eyes; he was getting to close….

Aiden started to notice my reaction, "Hey, are you okay?"

I forced a smile, "I'm fine."

Aiden smiled at me softly, my heart melted a little, "Ever since I started playing this game… I've looked up to its mysterious leader," Aiden's voice was soft and quiet, almost a whisper. Jackson was smiling too, "My magic allows me to manipulate technology and Jackson's magic allows him to take the abilities of technology as his own, so with someone being able to create a game like this…"

I smiled at him, he's told me this before.

But the last part always made me feel uneasy, despite my love for fighting, "Jackson and I want to beat the leader to show how powerful we've become as wizards, and now we're so close to figuring out who it is…." Aiden finished quietly.

I had to force another smile, my hair covered my eyes again, "Oh, you'll find him or her eventually. I can tell you that."

"Really?" Aiden and Jackson's eyes were warm.

My smile stayed forced, "Yeah."

We were silent until Gary spoke to Ritsu, "Hey Ritsu, where are you taking us anyway?"

Ritsu was quiet the entire walk until now, but he seemed normal, "I was thinking that we could check some other guilds we know about. I'm going to the Singing Sirens guild to see if they know anything."

Gary looked unpleasantly surprised, "Why would _they _know anything about the Dream Key?"

Ritsu did a small smile, "Hey, It wouldn't hurt to ask, right?"

Gary sighed and face palmed, "If you say so…"

Julia, being her cheerful self, poked Gary in the side, "Ahhh, come on Gary! Why do you dislike them so much? They're funny, happy, and every single member does something in entertainment. It's like a mini Hollywood! Julia loves it!"

My eyebrow twitched, since when did Julia learn about Hollywood?

A vein of anger appeared on Gary's head, "I don't _dislike _them. They just make me feel uncomfortable…."

Julia almost sung, "And why do they make you feel uncomfortable?"

I started to giggle. Gary is about to explode... "They... just... bother me."

Julia but her hands to her mouth and giggled, "Maybe it's because one of their members did an accurate impression if you and you found it offensive..."

And Gary finally exploded, "NO IT'S NOT!"

Julia continued to giggle, "You suuurree?" She dragged out her words, "You seem pretty offended right now."

Gary walked over to Julia and put a hand on her shoulder, "Julia. Just. Stop. Talking."

Wow, self-control was the last thing I expected from Gary. Maybe the threat of Julia accidentally destroying the world has gotten to him.

Julia clearly didn't expect this either, "Gary?..."

After that it started to rain lightly. No thunder, just rain. Julia was sulking in front of me. _Man_, I thought, _Julia's magic even effects weather in the game... _

Once we were approaching the Singing Sirens guild, I could hear the sound of music. The Singing Sirens guild hall was in downtown Town Central. Its guild hall looked like a modern version of the abandoned village that we were at before we came here. It has a hollow, round base with large, open platforms sticking out. It was as tall as a skyscraper and was covered in neon lights and graffiti that was probably drawn by trespassers that they didn't care about or the members themselves.

Gary started to tuck himself into a ball and looked to the ground. I smirked and walked over to him,

"Looks like you need a push," I said more cheerfully than I normally would.

He glared at me and groaned, "Please tell me Julia isn't rubbing off on you..."

I giggled and smirked, "No, I think it's more_ me_ rubbing off on _her_."

Gary answered me with groan of annoyance. I laughed deviously. Why do I enjoy doing this so much?

Jason snuck his way to the front and led us into the guild hall. No one really noticed us when we walked in. They were doing their own thing.

Three members were singing together. I could tell by reading their magic signature that they used a type of Voice Manipulation magic. It allowed them to make their audience feel a certain way using their voice. It doesn't matter audience likes it or not. I felt myself calm down.

There was a boy standing on the center stage in front of us. His name is Jamison, and is Julia and Mia's age at thirteen. His profile says that he's from Australia. Rumor has it is that he's one of the youngest comedians to go on tour.

He's also the guy who impersonated Gary….

_Ohh, we should call him over here…. _I thought, hoping to bother Gary.

Too bad for me that Mia already had that idea, "Hey Jamison! Guess who's here?"

Jamison stopped mid sentence while he was impersonating Ichiya form Blue Pegasus. I was a little disappointed that he stopped though. One of the main reasons I'm glad he has so many Blue Pegasus friends is because they tell him about people like Ichiya…. I sighed, only if Erza was here….

Mia grabbed a limp Gary by the shoulders and dangled him in front of her, "Someone here wants another impersonation…"

Gary sweat dropped and snapped right after she said that, "NO I DO NOT WANT ANOTHER IMPERSONATION!" He screamed at the top of his lungs, struggling against Mia's grasp.

Jamison came down the holographic stairs of the stage with cat-like grace and walked towards Mia and Gary. Already he was onto impersonating another person, this time it was Julia,

Jamison's voice sounded _exactly _like Julia's, "Ohh Gary! Julia's missed you!" He even transformed into Julia for added effect, he gave Gary a bear hug, "So you really want me to impersonate you again?"

Jamison ended up knocking Mia to the ground, much to her annoyance. But she didn't attack them so she wouldn't ruin the show she started.

Gary isn't a touchy feely person, so he did not react well to "Julia's" hug, "Get off me Jamison! You're not my sister!"

Still being like Julia, he said cheerfully, "Aww… You ruin all my fun."

Gary growled at him and I looked up to see every guild member staring at him and Jamison. They were standing on the spiral staircase and ledges that rimmed the circular interior of the guild hall. Their gases were intent, ready for a show.

Now _this_ is amusing, I got Gary's attention and nudged upward. He gasped once he saw everyone's eyes on him. Jamison seemed to absorb the attention like a sponge.

In a second, Jamison used his Transformation and Voice Change magic to become an exact copy of Gary Fullbuster, he motioned over to a young girl near him. She looked a little older than Ren and Jackson with the same bright blue eyes and lightly tanned skin as Jamison, but she had pretty, curly blonde hair that stopped at her waist.

She transformed into Julia, "Gary! Gary! Let's go on a job! Julia's bored!"

Jamison, as Gary, groaned, "Why now? I want to go and take a nap… You always interrupt my beauty sleep."

I am certain now that this girl uses the same magics as Jamison does, "But…. But… I'm bored…"

Jamison snapped, "I DON'T WANT TO GO ON A JOB!"

The girl burst into tears, and I'm sure everyone who knows what Julia's magic is capable of is imagining a thunderstorm right now…

"Gary" panicked and did what "Julia" wanted him to do, "Fine! Fine! We can go on a job!"

The girl smiled widely, "YAY! Julia's happy!"

I and everyone else but Gary clapped enthusiastically and almost died laughing, even Julia. Julia was crying and I almost cried. That is exactly what they would do in that situation!

Gary; however, looked like he was ready to murder someone.

"You know what?!" he screamed, his face bright red, "I'll just… go!"

With that declaration, Gary stormed out of the guild hall. It was then that I felt a _little _bad for him. I frowned as I watched him fade away in the distance. I whispered to Aiden, "He'll be ok, right?"

Aiden looked at me with surprise, "Since when do you regret picking on someone?"

I smacked him on the shoulder, "Since never. I just think we were a little too hard on him this time. A whole guild was watching him."

Aiden rubbed where I smacked him, "He'll be fine. Everyone has to face embarrassment eventually. Some just take it better than others"

I shrugged, "I guess your right."

It was a minute before everyone realized that the show is over. They spread back out and did what they were doing before. Jason, trying to hide a left over laugh from the performance, walked over to Jamison,

"Can you bring us to your guild master?" Jason could barely hold it anymore.

Jamison transformed into a boy around our age with chocolate brown hair and ice blue eyes, his voice was barely audible, "Sure, I can take you to her."

We followed him up the spiral staircase to the very top of the building. Once we got there, he walked up to an identical looking boy who was working with sound equipment. The boy unpleasantly surprised by Jamison's visit,

Jamison must have been impersonating this boy, "Are you ever yourself Jamison?" The boy groaned quietly.

"These guys behind me want to see the master," Jamison replied, ignoring the boy's question.

The boy sighed lightly, "Then go, the _actual_ me can take them."

Jamison leaned forward slightly and walked down the stairs. The boy took off his headphones and walked over to us, his voice was much louder now,

"Sorry about him. He feels the need to impersonate someone every second of every day. He's rarely himself. My name's Kikoe, I'm the master's assistant." The boy introduced himself formally.

Jason was like our ambassador, "We're some wizards from Fairy Tail and High Rise. We need to know if any of your guild members has seen pieces of a certain object."

"You can see her," Kikoe gave a small smile, "you don't need to be _that _formal."

Jason said nothing in reply and we followed him into the circular room where their master Kara was.

But when we walked in, she wasn't there.

I was at least a little confused…. "Um… Kikoe, where is she?"

He growled loudly, "Ugh! Where did she go off to now?"

Just as we were about to turn around and look for her, I heard the sound of at least three pianos, drums, and electro music playing all at once. Kikoe pushed his way outside the room and sweat dropped with us following him.

On the stage was none other than the guild's master, Kara playing the sounds of three instruments with quite a few pianos. A slew of colorful, metallic magic circles were under a couple of the pianos as she played one of those impossible piano remixes that Alice showed me on the internet…

But she was actually doing it… By herself…

It lasted for a few minutes, and once she was finished the people who were listening clapped normally like they had seen it everyday…

I guess they're used to it…

Kikoe yelled down to her once the clapping stopped, "Hey Kara! There are some people who want to talk to you!"

Kara pulled what looked like a dot to us and the stage lifted itself too us. She jumped off of the stage as it went back down. She had tanned skin with dark eyes and hair. Her hair was pulled back into a messy ponytail and had neon colored streaks in her hair. She was wearing a colorful T-shirt, a gray scarf and hat, and blue jeans that looked like she has had them for a while. She put her hands on her hips and asked with a smile,

"What can I do for you?"


	30. Chapter 29: Hacked

Chapter 29

Leah POV

Kara put her hands on her hips and smiled at us, "What can I do for you?"

Jason spoke formally, "We're looking for pieces of the Dream Key. Have you seen anything?"

Kara frowned in thought, "I have no idea what _this_ Dream Key is, but I haven't seen anything suspicious."

Kikoe sighed loudly behind us, "Are you _that_ forgetful about things that don't involve music, Kara? We saw something _very_ suspicious a couple days ago."

"Really?" Kara looked confused, "I don't remember anything."

Kikoe sweat dropped, "It was in the suburbs, remember? The landscape changing?..."

Then Kara's face lit up, "Oh yeah, we did see that... The landscape changing from suburbs to the ocean, back and forth..."

Kikoe gave her a "really" look and she showed almost no reaction to it.

I flinched when they finished talking. I've never had any issues before...

I glanced at Ritsu and Reo. They showed almost no reaction to the new information. They just looked intrigued. I felt my anger rise a little. Aren't they at least a little worried?!

As I was turning my attention back to Jason and Kara, I saw Aiden and Jackson look a little dejected. They were leaning against the wall looking at the ground with their hair covering their eyes.

That's a little strange...

Jason finished the conversation, "Thanks for the information. Good luck with the tournament."

Kara put her hands on her hips again, "No problem. Good luck to you guys too."

We started to make our way out of the guild hall after that. I tried in vein to keep myself looking happy, but couldn't help but still worry about that issue. I glanced behind me at Aiden and Jackson again. They looked even worse. _What's with them..._

I can't take it anymore, I have to go to Mission Control and check on this. I jogged up to Jason.

I choose my words carefully, "Hey Jason, I need to go check on something..."

Jason's eyes were piercing, "Why? What would you need to check on?"

My voice started to break, "Um... I... Just need to check on something..." I prayed I wouldn't have to lie to him, "Please trust me."

Jason sighed and rolled his eyes, "Fine..."

I felt relieved, "Thanks! I'll be back as soon as I'm done."

Jason nodded at me, "Just don't take too long," he put his hands behind his head and mumbled something to himself.

I started running to my little hideout. The reason why I decided to name it Mission Control was because of a space movie I watched with Alice one day. It's purpose reminded me of the mission control place in the movie. No one knows where it is except me. Even Ritsu and Reo.

I changed my run to a sprint, it caused me to start huffing from exhaustion. I have to find out what's causing that issue... I thought.

With what seemed like forever, I made it to the rock where I hid the portal to my hideout in the Wooden Wastelands. I flipped it over with relative ease and jumped right through the holographic grass into the hole. I tucked myself into a cannon ball, waiting for the pool at the bottom.

Suddenly, I felt _very_ cold water surround me and heard the sound of my splash and the bubbles from it. I swam out as fast as I could. Why isn't the water heated?!

I shivered as I struggled to find a towel. After about five minutes of looking around the cave for one, I just gave up. I told myself, _it's ok. Strong people can deal with a little cold. I'll just deal with it..._

I walked to the center and stood there. I looked down and saw the codes of the magic circle I made long ago. I modified a couple of the codes to activate the circle to teleport me to my hideout. I could feel my eyes changing as I used my magic.

In less than a second, I appeared in my hideout. I smiled at how it didn't change. It was still as simple as ever. All it was, was the small white room that I saw when I first started making this place. The only thing I added were a few holographic screens to watch people playing the game and keep up with things. I walked over to where the main screen was.

I brought it down from the wall to it floating above the floor by grabbing it with my hand. With my hand still grabbing onto it, I compressed it into a ball and expanded it till it resembled a globe of the game space.

On the center of the globe was Town Central and all of the names of the guilds and places around it. I looked around the globe for the suburbs of Town Central where Kara and Kikoe said they saw the landscape changing.

It didn't take long.

There was a huge red dot where the northern suburbs were. I pinched my fingers together and spread the land out to get a closer look. I started to read the codes of the area, to see if there was anything I changed accidentally earlier.

My breath caught with what I saw.

There were strange new codes added into the system that could no way be from my magic... and they weren't just in the suburbs... They were everywhere. Most of them just weren't activated yet.

_I need to fix this now..._ I started to try and fix the strange new codes, but no matter what I did, they wouldn't change.

_What the heck is going on?_ I thought frustrated. I continued to look around the globe for issues, then it hit me.

There is only one way these strange codes could pop up...

The game's been hacked.


	31. Chapter 30: A Small Cafe

Disclaimer: I don't own any real life products mentioned in this chapter.

* * *

Chapter 30

_At the Singing Sirens guild..._

Kikoe POV

I watched them as they walked away, Kara was standing behind me.

Kara spoke softly, "I wonder if this Dream Key has anything to do with that landscape issue we mentioned..."

I nodded and said, "You know Jamison? He still won't be himself around anyone..."

Kara nodded solemnly, "Yeah, I've heard from people in the guild that he only lets his guard down around his little sister..."

"You mean the girl that was on stage with him?" I inquired, glad to finally know something about him.

"Uhuh," Kara mumbled, half paying attention to me, half playing with a guitar she found leaning against the wall.

I walked forward a couple of steps and looked out the nearest window. The sun was starting to set. I reached into my back pocket and pulled out my flip phone to see the time. It read 6:30 in Japan. _We should probably get back to the shop..._

I pulled out my iPod touch and changed the song to one that resembled a breeze. I felt myself starting to get outgoing and giddy.

In less than a second, my happy little moment was ruined by the feeling of one of my contacts slipping out, "Just my luck..." I mumbled to myself, frustrated as I clinched my hand over my eye.

I frantically ran to the nearest bathroom to attempt to fix my contact before anyone noticed my eye color and not run into anyone at the same time. Unfortunately for me, I ended up running straight into Jamison's little sister...

I grunted as I fell to the ground and groaned when I tried to get up. Once I finished scratching my head, I saw Jamison standing over me. I could feel my eyes getting small as I saw him changed into a large body builder, looking like he wanted to beat me up...

His voice was so low now... "What do you think you're doing to my sister?" He had me by the collar.

It terrified me how quickly his personality could change... "I just ran into her on my way to the bathroom..." Thanks to the music I was listening to, my voice came out light instead of showing how terrified I really was.

Then again... My personality can change as quickly as his... "Do you think I'm going to believe that?" Jamison grunted at me, spitting in my face.

I prayed that he wouldn't see my eye color as I struggled to reach my iTouch. My fingers barely reached it. I tapped its flat screen and hoped I touched the white arrow to change the song.

Finally I had a lucky break, I heard the song change from a breeze to a campfire. I could already feel myself getting aggressive. We had our arms pulled back, ready to punch each other in the face.

Then I head a high pitch scream, "No! Don't fight! He really is telling the truth Jamison!" It was his sister.

I watched in amazement as I saw Jamison go to his original form. Dark hair, with lightly tanned skin and the same bright blue eyes as his sister. It was a rarity, and I never expected him to do it in front of me.

He bent down to his sister, who was sitting up looking at him in the eyes, he put a hand on his sister's head, "You're ok right?" His voice was gentle.

She nodded with a tear hanging out of her eye. Jamison gave me one last little glare before transforming with his sister and walking away. I sighed, our relationship just keeps getting worse...

I walked into bathroom and started to take my contact out. I looked at myself in the mirror for a second before putting my contact back in. My eye was blood red, because of the song I was listening too. I leaned forward and saw that the roots of my hair were red too.

I did a light sigh. If anyone here found out what I am they'd probably think I don't belong here...

I slowly put my contact back in till it was comfortable. I changed the song back to the breeze before leaving the bathroom to find Kara so we could go home.

I walked out of the bathroom and looked outside another window, the sky was red changing to yellow as it flowed out. I stared at it, admiring.

As I was spacing out, I heard Kara's fast footsteps. She jumped and spun me around, laughing. I screamed.

She grinned at me, "Time to go back to the shop."

I felt dizzy, "Is there a reason why you had to spin me around?..."

Her voice was light, "Nope!"

I felt my giddiness return, "Let's go then."

I smiled at her, "You want me to get there faster?"

She gave me a suspicious smirk, "Sure, go on ahead."

For some reason, this song made me much more chivalrous too. I picked her up bridal style and put air under my feet. I ran at least as fast as an average car out of the guild hall to our region exit.

Our hair was flying in the wind as I ran. Kara didn't fight my grasp, I guess she was liking that she didn't have to walk.

I stopped suddenly once we got to our region gate...causing Kara to fall face first on the floor. She grunted and gave me a friendly glare,

"I know I'm not the one to be saying this, but slow down before you stop will you?"

I chuckled, "I'll try."

She smiled as she made her way to her feet. We walked through the hallways of the exit to our country and took off our translators at the return station.

For years, I've always questioned why we used them because our language was so similar to Fiore's, the main language here. Kara insisted to be safe, so I always wore one, but I never completely understood it.

We went to the teleport circles once we made it to our portal. They are all marked with the name of the owner or owners, so you wouldn't go to the wrong house. With one step, Kara and I appeared in the small shop that Kara inherited from her parents.

It was a small cafe that was as well decorated as we could afford. Even though neither of us were legal adults at fifteen and eighteen, we'd been secretly owning this place.

Kara was an only child when her parents passed away, and she had no contact with her extended family, so she was the only heir to this place.

However; Kara has always loved music, so she turned this into a karaoke place too.

Kara yawned behind me as she put the game cube on top of a nearby shelf. She said to me tiredly, "I'm going to my room for tonight. See you tomorrow."

I nodded and waved goodnight to her as she went upstairs. I decided to let myself space out a little before going to my room for the night too.

_I don't even know who my parents are...or if they're even alive..._

I grunted to myself before going upstairs to my small room. I shouldn't think about that, right?

I threw my clothes and headphones on my bed and changed into my pajamas. I cringed as my headphones left my ears. I could hear almost everything now...

I walked to the middle of the hall to the bathroom with my toothbrush. I want to get this over with. I took my contacts out to reveal my now multicolored eyes. There was a dark gray from the sound of the air conditioning, a light gray from the breeze, and a little left over red from earlier.

It was a constant reminder of what I am.

I am a Sound Dragon Slayer.

And there's nothing I can do about it.

When I was finished, I went back to my room and flopped onto my bed and put my hands behind my head. I reached for a small booklet my foster brother gave me when he was in human form.

It was a story about the five adaption dragons and how they were the patriarchs for the single type dragons that are around today. My foster father would tell it to him and me as a bedtime story.

It all started with a little fairy girl who gave her magic abilities to a young boy. He told us that the creatures in earthland had always had magic in them, but never had the ability to use it until then. The one ones who could were the fairies, and they looked down on people who couldn't.

All of them but this girl, and she was tired of her race looking down on us, so she gave the boy her powers. She told the boy that whoever he touched would gain his new ability to use magic, so the boy traveled the world to spread it.

One day, the boy ran into what was going to become the first magic using dragon.

Literally...

He ran right into him, causing some of his scales to become colored. Eventually he became a Seasonal dragon that could adapt to any element. The first four dragons he touched become the next four adaption dragons. Sound, Touch, Taste, and Absorption.

With this new ability, the dragon race reproduced rapidly and the magic started to wear off through the generation. There was only a ten percent chance a baby dragon would have more than one element, and less than one percent they would be an adaption type.

Dragons of similar types would organize into different kingdoms. Heat, Cold, Darkness, Sky, Water, Mineral, Plasma, and Other. Each had a royal family, but the adaption dragons were the council over all of them.

Dragons started to become quite a predator to anyone smaller than it. With that came the Dragon Civil War, and the Dragon Slayers that turned on all of them. All but a few were killed, including all of the adaption dragons, but one.

It was the Absorption dragon, and it was and still is evil. All he wanted was the absorb the power of others. He attacked us and killed my foster father and took my brother, because he was a fellow adaption dragon, the dragon I got my powers from.

Before my foster father died, he told me that I had a twin sister that was abandoned with me, and that she was raised by a long time family friend.

When she became the only family I could turn to, I searched for her and ended up being stranded in this dimension. That's when I met a young Kara, who assumed my parents abandoned me on the streets. She took me in and we've been running this cafe ever since.

I read the booklet with all of it's small pictures over again. It took me a few hours, and when I was done, I crawled into my bed and fell asleep, dreaming about my foster family.

...

_With Jason and the others..._

Jason POV

We started walking to find Gary, I grumbled to myself louder than I intended, "What's taking Leah so long?"

Mia gave me an annoyed response, "Because she's a slowpoke," she rolled her eyes, "I think we should be more worried about finding Gary. We don't even know where he is."

I felt myself tense. _Well we have no idea where Leah is either..._ I didn't dare say my thoughts out loud so I wouldn't start a fight with Mia. It's the last thing we need right now...

I do agree with her a little though, we do need to focus on finding Gary. I heard Alice's footsteps as she tried to catch up with me, she said her first words of this trip,

She glanced at the sunset behind us, "Aiden, Jackson, and I should go home. Our parents will wonder if we're out too late."

I was surprised that she was even speaking right now since she hadn't said _anything_ to anyone after we left High Rise, "Umm... I know this is a little random, but why haven't you talked before now? You're usually pretty talkative."

She shrugged, "I didn't feel it was appropriate. You were doing all of the talking for us."

I sweat dropped after she said that. I was being unusually outgoing today...

She is right though, "Oh. You are right though, you guys should get going."

She nodded, "Are you guys going to try and find Gary while we're gone?"

I nodded.

She gave me a thumbs up before bickering with Aiden and Jackson about time zones and heading towards her respective region gate and Aiden and Jackson going to theirs.

That was then when I wondered what their world was really like.


	32. Chapter 31: Life at Home

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon or Skype (you'll find out why later in the chapter).

* * *

Chapter 31

Alice POV

I walked alongside Aiden and Jackson as we made our way to our region gates. While we were doing that, Aiden, Jackson, and I started bickering about time zones...

"What's this talk about it being late? You know the time difference between the U.S and the UK right?" Aiden seemed irritated.

"The sun is setting here Aiden. The day is almost over in the game space, so I thought we should get home. Hasn't your dad gotten onto you about you two spending too much time here anyway?"

Both Aiden and Jackson glared at me, harsher than normal, "He has, but it's not like he has the time to keep up with us anyway." Aiden spoke harshly.

Jackson seemed a lot more grumpy than normal too, "What about your parents? Don't they get on to you? Do they?"

Jackson's statement made me jerk back a little. Jackson is usually a sweet, innocent, kid. I'd never expect... him to talk like this...

I coughed and ignored their irritation, "No, not at all," I gave Jackson a light, friendly slap on the back, "they don't even know I have this game. Actually, they don't even know it _exists_."

Jackson rolled his eyes at me and looked away. I can't take their attitude anymore, "What's with you two? You're being particularly grumpy ."

Aiden hissed at me, "Grumpy my butt."

Do they really think I'm going to take this hands down? I got right into Aiden's face, "Aiden, do you really think you should talk to your friends like that?"

Aiden glared at me even harsher, if possible, but he didn't hurt or threaten me in return. I glared at him once and then I surrendered without really trying. There's no point with them like this.

Once we got to the crossroads to our region gates, I gave them a wave, "See you guys tomorrow!"

All I got in return was a hand and a very grumpy looking expression. Geez, at least try to look happy!

I turned around once I saw their faces and I walked to my country's portal section, the UK. I walked through the many city markers to find my portal. I stopped in the middle of the London section.

I stepped into my portal and in less than a second, I was in my room again. I looked at my alarm clock, it was only 11:00 AM.

I looked at the glass opening in my celling to see the sun being right in the center of it. _I wonder if Mum's home... _

I ran downstairs and called, "Hey Mum! Are you home?"

I didn't get an answer. I felt a rush of excitement. _Yes! She's not home! _

I ran back upstairs to my room. I looked at the many paintings on my bedroom walls. Most of them painted by me, but some being painted by my mum.

Which one should I manipulate first?

I chose the army soldier one on the left side of my bed. I had two pink magic circles in my hands and I saw the soldiers in the panting start to march with my dad leading the way.

The red in their uniforms stood out against the gray uniforms of my unknown opponents. I pushed my dad forward and made him shoot the first shot.

Bam! Bam! I could hear their guns firing.

It was only a minute of fighting until we were victorious, and Dad got the metal of honor.

I wish Dad would come home soon...

My animations stopped happening once I heard our door alarm go off. _Mum's home! _

I ran downstairs to give her a welcome home hug. I wrapped my arms so tight around her waist that I heard her gasp.

She put a hand on my head once I let her go, "It's nice to see you too Alice."

I grinned at her, "Got some new art supplies?"

She nodded, "Uhuh, I'm almost finished with the piece I'm working on. Want to help?"

Like I would pass that up, "Yeah!"

I ran over to Mum's art studio and she laughed and followed behind me.

I had to ask, "When is Dad going to be coming home?"

She sighed and a strand of blonde hair covered her face, "Maybe in another month or so sweetie."

I could see our reflection in the nearby mirror, our matching freckles and thin, lean body types. Our difference being my dark brown hair that I got from my dad.

I hope another month goes by fast.

...

Aiden POV

I couldn't shake my bad mood once I figured out about that... _Problem... _

I could tell Jackson was upset too.

But there's no way in heck that we're going to tell anyone about _that..._

Especially Leah...

We made our way to our portal very quickly because we got one of the best spots with us getting here so early.

My voice was softer than earlier, "Think that Dad will be busy when we get home Jackson?"

He looked down, "Probably..."

I sighed, probably is an accurate answer with Dad's work schedule...

We stepped through the portal and appeared in our huge main foyer in our already huge house. Dad is very into golf, so our house kind of looks like a club house other than our rooms.

If there is two things for my dad to be doing it's either work or golf. He rarely hangs out with us...

And Mom's not around anymore, so it's not like we can bother her now...

It's been hard since she moved away a few months ago... For us anyway...

I began to walk up the long spiral stairs to my room with Jackson following behind me. By some stroke of luck, our dad appeared from one of the nearby rooms.

He smiled one he caught our eye and picked Jackson up from the stairs, "How've you been doing sport?"

Jackson gave him a tight smile, "Good."

He reached over the railing and rubbed my dark, curly hair, "And how've you doing kiddo?"

I thought of the only answer that wouldn't involve a discussion, "I'm fine, Dad."

His phone rang, "I have to take this. Just let me know if anything's bothering you ok? I'll make time for it."

Like that would ever happen, our answer was textbook, "Sure, Dad."

Jackson and I walked up to our room as fast as we could walk. Once we got into my room, I grunted to Jackson, "Like he'd make time for anyone... He didn't make much for Mom, so she divorced him..."

Jackson had a little more mercy and optimism in him than I did, "You're probably right... But he does care for us. I know he does."

His words just made me more frustrated. I turned away and looked to the wall.

Jackson did a small sigh and looked around my room. I could hear him looking around for my many different inventions that Dad was too busy to ever see. He probably wanted to take over some of them.

Since Dad is never around, we can normally use our magic whenever we want, and we're homeschooled so we don't have to worry about our classmates finding out.

Jackson taught himself Technology Take Over magic or Techo Soul as he likes to call it. I taught myself Technology Manipulation magic. Two similar magics that are fitting to the sons of the CEO of a major electronics company.

In the United States at least...

Bored, I decided to Skype Alice. She answered in less than a second. I saw a much brighter sun that what was coming through my windows here with it being six in the morning.

Wow, I just realized that Dad didn't get onto us about being up so early...

Alice was making her paintings do strange stuff again.

I smirked at her, "Enjoying that Picto Animation magic there Alice?"

She screamed once she heard my voice. She sat in front of her computer,

She said to me irritably, "You scared me half to death!"

I giggled, "My point."

She glared at me, "Oh shut up!"

Jackson ran over the the computer excitedly, "Aiden has a crush on someone!"

I punched him off my back in anger reflex. My face was bright red, I yelled at him,

"One, how on earth did you find out?! And two, don't screams it to the heavens!"

Jackson had a tear in his eyes, but he grinned anyway, "I found it in this diary on the floor."

I gave him a death glare, "If you look at that again, you get beaten to a pulp."

Jackson gulped, "yes sir..."

However; Alice was listening to this the entire time...

Crap...

She squealed in girly happiness, she leaned on her elbows, "Aww! That's so cute! Who is it?"

I somehow got even more red, I crossed my arms, "Like I'd tell you!"

Jackson, determined to embarrass me today, yelled my crush's name to the world, "It's Leah Dragneel!"

Ok I'm going to beat him up now, I shoved myself out of my chair and started a fight with my face as red as a tomato.

Alice watched from her computer,

She squealed again, "Aww! You two would be cute together!"

I stopped my fight mid air once I heard that, I dropped my guard a little, "Really?"

Her smile was too big, almost evil, "Ohhh yes."

Please tell me Alice isn't the matchmaking type... I heard her whisper to herself while she was turned away,

"I knew asking Mia to stalk Mirajane for me was a good idea..."

I'm now a little bit scared for my life... I've heard from Leah that Mirajane is the matchmaking queen of Fairy Tail...

Oh brother...

"I can't just sit around and do nothing! I have work to do!" She yelled as she turned around to end the call.

"Wait!" I started desperately, "What work?!"

She gave me an evil smile before ending the call, "Ohhh, you'll just have to find out."

Then she ended the call. I gave my brother a death glare,

"Why did you do this to me?!"

And I started yet another fight.

...

_Back in the game..._

Jason POV

We started our search for Gary right when Alice, Jackson, and Aiden were out of sight. Right off the bat, Ritsu was coming up with great ideas.

"How about Hono and I just sniff him out?" Ritsu suggested.

We all agreed without protest, but I stayed towards the back this time... I've done enough of ignoring my shyness today...

Mia looked to they sky, "You know... Hono hasn't talked much at all since we got here..." She looked for him.

"Hey..." She stopped walking, "Where's Hono?"

We stopped dead in our tracks. Hono was gone...

Well I know why we haven't head anything from him...

I looked to the front and saw a small piece of paper in Ritsu's hands.

"Hey Ritsu!" I called to him, "Look at your hands!"

"Look at what..." He looked down, "Oh..."

He uncrumbled the note. We all crowded behind him, it read,

_I caught on the Gary's sent. You guy's seemed a little "busy" so I decided to follow it myself. I think he went to the _Pokemon_ Training game. See you there! _

"Why not just tell us?" We all angrily said in unison with our hair covering our eyes.

Now we started heading in the direction of the _Pokemon_ Training game, and I wonder if I'll ever understand dragons...


	33. Chapter 32: Magnolia Town

Chapter 32

Ritsu POV

I jogged along with the others to the Training Area that's on the first sub floor of Town Central. I still can't believe that Hono didn't tell us earlier though! His social skills aren't that bad right?

When we got to an elevator in one of the training shops, I remembered something...

What's taking Leah so long?

I can only guess she's trying to fix that problem, but she's usually quick... or quicker...

After we all managed to fit into one elevator (I was crammed to the side...), it started to move down slowly and we all fell through the door once it opened...

We weren't the only ones in there anyway, and we're not an especially small group...

Mia grunted angrily, "Can we all please get off of each other?..."

We all stood up quickly after that. Mia will easily turn to violence when she's angry, and the last thing we need right now is a full-scale fight.

Even though I'd love to fight Hono right now...

I shook my head, I'll deal with him later.

We walked to where the _Pokemon_ Training Game is. We passed a few others that Aiden, Jackson, and Alice would know, Avengers Training Game, American Horror Story Training Game, the list goes on. It still fascinates me how my sister can make these training games just from Alice introducing her to her world's form of entertainment...

When we got to one of the many _Pokemon_ Training Game portals, I looked around and saw a warning posted on a nearby wall.

_Warning! This training game is a role playing game. Once you get into a system of players, you can't come out or go against your role. Play with caution. _

I sweat dropped, "Of all games for Gary to choose... It had to be this one..."

Jason was pretty insistent on going despite the warning, "We should go in anyway, we need to find Gary."

I nodded but sighed.

I glanced at Julia, she's been pretty quiet since Gary disappeared. Mia put a hand on her shoulder, "It's ok Julia. We'll find him."

Julia looked like she was holding back tears, but she nodded and didn't say anything. Gary is probably ready for one of the fiercest storms in the game's history once we find him...

We all got into one of the portals to get into the training game. Once I stepped on, my surroundings disappeared and were replaced with what seemed like an endless space with a big screen in front of me. It was giving me my role.

_Player: Ritsu Drangeel _

_Guild: Fairy Tail_

_Game chosen: _Pokemon_. _

_Game Purpose: To limit your move choices and increase your skills in each individual skill other than relying on one each time you fight. _

_Game type: Role Playing _

_Rules: Follow your role. _

_Role: Main trainer (player). _

_So I'm the main character in this system? Sweet._ The blank space was slowly changing to what looked like a very very small Magnolia. I was floating in the air until I found myself in a bed in a small room that I've never seen before.

It was a nice bedroom. A T.V, computer, a dresser, a few posters, and the comfortable bed I was sitting on decorated the room. I got up and went downstairs and saw a young girl downstairs making breakfast while a young boy was sitting at a table reading a newspaper. My eyebrow twitched, So the roles of my characters are played by players too?

Time to get to role playing.

The girl's voice was crisp and sweet,

"Good Morning Sweetie. Time to go and get your training license. You've been training for a long time. I'm sure you'll pass with flying colors!"

Despite the game taking over my body movements, I remembered what you were in this game.

You take the place of the Pokemon. You use your magic to fight.

I hugged my "mother" and both she and my "father" waved me off as I went to the lab. The information was implanted into my head, even though Aiden let me borrow his game before.

When I got there, a boy my age with the most spiky blonde hair, even more than my dad's, I've ever seen walked out of the lab elegantly. He absorbed the nearby cameras like a sponge.

He had a very thin body frame that made me question his gender, eyes so dark that they resembled my dad's, creamy skin, and a light blue T-shirt with long blue jeans. He had a brown belt tied loosely around his waist and he had a black bandana tied under his hair.

He spoke with arrogance, "I'm going to be the next Fighting Master, and make Magnolia town one of the most visited towns in the world!"

I wanted to punch him in the face, but I stayed in my role. I made myself shyly try and make my way though the cheering crowd and eventually he ran into me.

"Who are you?" He sneered at me.

I really want to punch him now, but I followed the rules once again, I spoke to him calmly,

"My name's Ritsu. I'm going to be the next Fighting Master."

He laughed a little while the crowd behind him stared at me blankly, "You? Seriously? Do you even have any magic yet?"

I wanted to scream at him, "Yes, and it'll kick your butt!" but I didn't, the game wouldn't let me.

I spoke shyly, "No... Not yet.. I'm here to get some..."

The boy almost keeled over laughing at this point, "Good luck with that. It's all taken at this point. You overslept kid."

Who are you calling kid... I couldn't take it anymore, I pushed past him and burst into lab and saw a a slightly older guy with silvery hair.

I gasped to him, "Sorry I'm late! Do you have any idea what's going on out there? Who is that kid?!"

The older guy, who my mind informed me as Professor Kin Maple, sighed in disappointment, "That's my grandson Leaem. Don't mind him. Always pretty rebellious."

Finally the game would let me release some of my anger, "He's more than rebellious..."

I asked the professor, "Is there any magic left?"

The professor sighed again, "I doubt it, but we can see."

He caused a circular table to come up from the bottom and its circular top opened to reveal three black lacrima. They were empty.

I slumped back in genuine but expected disappointment, "They're all taken?"

Professor Maple told me the bad news, "I'm sorry, grass, water, and fire magic were all taken by fighters who were on time..."

The game made me desperate, "Please sir! You have to have something?"

The Professor slumped his head to the side, "Well... There's _something_... But it's still a test."

I will take anything, "I'll have it! Just give it to me!"

Professor Maple pushed a button to reveal a red and ice blue lacrima with a dragon engraved into it. My eyes lit up, that's my magic!

The Professor explained it to me, "It a strange new type of Dragon Slayer magic I found laying around."

I wasted no time in ingesting the lacrima, "Thank you very much sir!"

I started to try and use like I normally do, but all it did was explode on me. I stared at the professor with my face covered in black burns.

I gasped to him, "What happened?"

He sighed at my stupidity, "I was about to tell you that it's very hard to control... But you went and used it anyway..."

I gasped to him again, "Sorry..."

He put a hand up, "No offense taken, but you should hurry, Leaem's already on his way to Hargeon City..."

Shoot! I tripped off the floor and towards the door.

I guess my journey to find Gary has officially begun.


	34. Chapter 33: Julia the Gym Leader

Chapter 33

Ritsu POV

I ran as fast as the game would let me to Hargeon City. I have a feeling that Gary isn't going to be easy to find. The more time you play this training game; it can promote you to a higher role. Gary has been in here for _much_ longer than we have, so he's probably pretty high up.

I had to face a couple of "Pokemon" before I was able to get to the city. Sadly for me, the only one of my attacks that the game gave me was Frozenflame dragon claw. It's one of my weaker moves.

One person used fire magic, and he attacked me with very simple attacks. Actually, the only attack he used was a flame blast that I ate some of before using my one move to knock him out in a couple of shots. The other person used air magic, she knew a lot of aerial attacks, so she took a lot longer because of my attacks not working for a turn.

After that minor setback, I reached the Hargeon City gym, I looked at the statues in the entrance way and saw that Leaem had already beat the gym. I seethed to myself. I don't care if it is a person playing a role; I _really_ want to beat this person.

I searched around for the gym leader. I saw pools of water with an open ceiling that let a strong breeze come in. It was nice.

I called out to the gym leader, "Hey! I'm here to challenge your gym! Is anyone here?"

I heard a small voice from a girl just walking into the gym, "She's away to help with a crime in town… Someone's been robbed…"

I walked over to her and smiled. I saw her sweat more from my attention. I asked her, "Where's the house that got robbed?"

Her voice was almost dead quiet, "It's…. the big one right when you get into town…."

I did what anyone from my guild would do, say "thanks" and run off trying to save the day, and that's exactly what I did. I remember seeing the house that girl talked about, and there was a girl trying to get in that I couldn't really see.

I ran up to the door and noticed something I didn't remember seeing when I played the actual game…

There was a huge, dark, stormy cloud right above the house…. And it looked angry….

I gulped; please tell me the gym leader isn't…

I walked in and gasped the end of my sentence out loud, "Julia…"

Yep, one of the worst people to face was standing in front of me with her light blue hair and dark blue eyes looking angry and on edge. She was staring down a boy with a bad looking dark shirt and dress pants with a huge dark purple "V" on the top. His hair was a bright orange and it was beyond curly.

Julia turned around, now dressed in her own iconic gym leader clothes, and looked like she was going to cry at seeing me. She ignored her opponent and jumped right at me for a huge bear hug. I cringed and started to run away, but the wrath of Julia's hugs is hard to escape….

She screeched in happiness, "Oh Ritsu! I can't believe you're the main trainer! I'm so glad it's someone I know!"

I struggled to get out of her grasp, "How did you get promoted to gym leader so fast?!"

Julia was starting to choke me with how hard she was hugging me, "It's just what the game gave me!"

She really is starting to choke me now, "Julia…." I gasped desperately, "you're starting to squeeze me to death…."

Julia let go immediately and screeched out a "no!" before explaining to me the situation, "That guy's from an evil team called Team Virus. He wanted to rob this guy for money points. I stopped him just in time though."

I was still trying to catch my breath from Julia's hug. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see a girl with the same uniform and hair as the guy, but hers was more feminine and short for a girl. I looked up at Julia and pointed my finger at the girl, "What about her then? What is she doing here?"

Julia turned around with a jerk and exclaimed, "When did she get here?!"

The boy answered, his voice husky and low, "I called her in. She's going to help me beat you two into two piles of dirt."

_That sounds like a challenge… _I grabbed Julia's arm and whispered into her ear, "Let's double team them…."

She smiled and jumped up and down in giddiness, "Yeah!"

I smirked at them as Julia and I stood back to back in fighting position. I made the first move. I lit my right hand in light blue flames and attacked the boy before he was ready. I yelled, "Frozenflame dragon claw!"

The boy was sent to the wall with the velocity of my attack. He clinched his side as he prepared one of his attacks. His body enveloped in electricity as he charged at me. It looked like he aimed to tackle me. I dodged his attack easily, but I wasn't prepared for the bolts of electricity coming from the floor near him.

My body locked up as I cringed and screamed in pain. Luckily Julia was here to have my back. She made a huge magic circle on the ground and I felt the ground start to shake violently. _So… She really does have some control of her magic…_

The shaking made the boy trip and fall causing my painful shocking to stop the girl never got the chance to do anything with huge waves of earth coming her way. I gasped with left over pain as I fell to the ground partly paralyzed.

Once Julia saw that the girl was unconscious, Julia unleashed waves of earth at the already injured boy. He fell unconscious after the first one. Julia ran frantically over to me, "Come on Ritsu! You have to get up! You just have to!"

I couldn't even stand with bolts of electricity still visibly going though my body. Julia picked me up and said to the homeowner, "I need to get him to a treatment center."

Julia left right after that without acknowledging the "thank yous" coming from the homeowner as she was running away. I could feel the wind picking up as I slowly started to black out. In a few seconds, my vision was black.

….

I woke up in the patent's waiting room in the town's treatment center as my mind informed me. I rubbed my head; I didn't feel bad at all. Normal actually.

I walked into the main lobby where I saw Julia waiting for me, and I had to endure another long, bone crushing, hug from Julia.

"Julia thought you were dead! Don't do that again!" I could feel her tears on my shirt.

I laughed as much as I could, Julia's still as emotional as ever, "It's fine," I assured her, "I'm alive, and I'm not planning on being killed anytime soon so don't worry…." _Man I really feel like Gary right now… _

To my surprise she actually let me go. I breathed in deeply as air returned to my lungs. She wiped her tears, "Thank goodness. Anyway, Julia wants to battle you. Do you accept?"

I grinned, "That's what I'm here for."

….

We were standing in Julia's gym on each side of the rectangular, water battlefield. The center was cut in half by an empty wall. The girl from before rang a nearby gong. The battle has begun.

I got to attack first. I ignited my hand with blue fire again and aimed at her side of the pool. The water froze on contact, but my hand ended up getting stuck in the ice. I tried in vein to burn though the ice, but Julia was too quick. She used her water magic,

"Freezing Geyser!" she yelled as she aimed her arms and hands upwards. An almost sub zero temperature geyser erupted where my hand was stuck. The water was so cold that I could see it turning to ice before my eyes. I could feel my hand turning purple with frostbite. It was numb with pain.

While cringing in pain, I focused all my magic power to my hand and a very large red flame started to erupt. It engulfed almost all of Julia's side, barely missing her. I jumped back to my square float on my end of the battlefield. I panted as I clinched my hand in pain. _So this is what Julia is capable of when she tries… _

It was Julia's turn now. Dark clouds started to appear above the open ceiling like at the big house from earlier. Her voice was dramatic, "I'm sorry Ritsu…. But I have to do this…."

Bolts of lightning reined down from the black clouds that were aimed right at me. I was able to dodge most of them, but the lightning caused the whole battlefield below me to shock with electricity. Worse, I was still wet from Julia's attack.

Darn it…

The lightning caught on to me like fire to wood. I felt the paralyzing pain lightning had. It was too familiar. When it was over, I felt down into the pool. I sunk to the bottom. I laid there on my back facing upwards. I heard the girl start to count down from ten.

10

9

8

_I have to do something…. I can't loose here! _

7

6

5

I was still paralyzed. _Come on body! Move! _

4

3

I clinched my fists. I felt new information fill in my head. I followed it.

2

_1 _

Then I erupted, "Dragon Slayer Secret Art! Fire Crystal!"

My body started to shed fire crystal. In less than a second, the whole pool was frozen in the deadly fire crystal that burns any non-fire wizard who touches it. I cut my way to the top so Julia wouldn't endure too much torture. I heard the countdown again.

10

9

8

7

I cut as fast as I could.

6

5

4

3

I was almost to the top.

2

I felt the fresh air of the surface.

_1_

The match was over, and I saw a screeching Julia who was having her skin burned off. I frantically ran over to punch the ice to bits. I felt my fist drive though the ice, and Julia's screeches stop. I sighed in relief as I fell on my back on the hard fire crystal, completely exhausted.

Julia panted with exhaustion and examined her minor burns. She walked over to me, she talked with playful irritation, "You didn't have to go that far! Julia saw her life flash before her eyes!"

I gave her a tired smile, "Well you didn't have to shock the pool. We're even."

She did one of her big, genuine smiles, "Well you beat me," she pulled a small badge that resembled a cloud raining snowflakes and thunder, "here you go."

I forced myself to get up, cringing in pain at every movement and took the badge from her hands. I asked her something, "Hey Julia, how did that Leaem guy do?'

Julia's voice was dramatic again, but I could hear the fear underneath it, "Julia hasn't seen anything so terrifying! He beat me with just one move! He called it Force Out. It forces you out of the game just long enough for it to count!"

What the?... What kind of magic is that?... "How's that even possible?" I asked her, confused.

Julia shook her head, "I don't know…"

I gave her a grin, "Well I'm going to beat him, at least try anyway."

Julia gave me a squeal, "I wish you luck!"

I gave her a wave as I went to my next city, Oak City, where the next gym is. One gym down, a few more to go.

…

? POV

"The mission was a failure, sir," One of my red haired minions told me.

I gave him a kind smile, despite the game trying to force it into a frown, "It's fine, as long as you at least got a _little _money."

The minion nodded to me, though he looked completely terrified, "I got a little sir."

I cringed, I'm not used to being feared, but the game wouldn't let me show it… for now, "Could you please leave me and my assistant alone?"

He gave me a slight bow before leaving. I forced the game's mechanisms to shut down to allow me to act normal. I complained to Amber, "Why do I have to be the villain?..."

I could tell by her posture that she was already getting mad at me for the day, she sounded very annoyed, "I don't know. Why are you such an idiot?"

I'm always a little offended by her constantly calling me an idiot, but you get used to it, "Be a _little _serious Amber. I really am curious!"

She sighed as she tucked a dark green hair strand behind her ear, "I'm being completely serious. You're an idiot."

I felt frustrated, why won't she just tell me?! "Fine! I get that. I just want to know why I'm the villain ok?"

Veins started to appear on her forehead, "It's probably because you didn't block your magic signature fast enough, so the game read it incorrectly. Further proof you're an idiot."

"CAN YOU PLEASE STOP THE IDIOT THING?!" I lost it.

She gave me a death glare. I now regret my decision… "Oh…? And it's not true? Are you any less of an idiot than anyone else in the game?... _Are _you?"

I shivered and resisted the temptation to put my hands in my hair and hide in a corner, "No...?"

She jammed her fists into the wall, "YOU'RE EXACTLY RIGHT! Which is why you're the biggest idiot of all!"

I give up. I went to the nearest corner and shivered in fear with my hands on my head. After seeing me, her anger went down a little, she sighed,

"I do understand why you're curious though. You can't kill anyone to save your life…"

I peaked at her with my hands still on my head, "True… but my sub-leader people look like they could kill someone..."

Like usual Amber spoke her mind, "They probably can. If you _haven't _noticed, their magic signatures aren't… right…. It's like it's not there…"

I stopped shivering, "is that bad?"

She sighed and did a soft glare at me, "I don't know."


	35. Chapter 34: The Elite Four

Chapter 34

Ritsu POV

The rest of the training game felt like it went on quickly after facing Julia. I beat every gym leader with ease and faced the occasional Team Virus member. There was one thing though… that shocked me half to death.

Ren was the last gym leader, and she can use magic.

Seven-year-old Ren can use magic, and she was_ good _at it.

It actually took me a good half an hour to beat her, and I had all of my four moves at that point.

Some of which included my Secret Arts….

"Here I come Ritsu!" Ren yelled in her very little kid sounding voice.

She gathered together multi-colored winds that were reigning havoc on my lungs. I could barely breathe for most of the battle. Ren didn't know many advanced techniques yet, she usually would just blast me with different colored and adapted winds that did not only hurt on the outside; it hurt on the inside too.

She had red winds that would normally make my lungs feel like they're on fire, but my Dragon Slayer Magic is developed enough at this point to resist it. It was the same with the cold, blue wind. It would make the average person's chest hurt or worse with extremely dry air that you only deal with during the winter.

The other seventy five percent of her winds had an affect on me though. She had a green wind that stunk worse than the smelliest skunk; it was so bad that it was hard for you to breathe without passing out. She had a purple wind that would stick to almost everything, including your lungs. So for most of the battle, I was covered in a layer of sticky and I felt like I had asthma.

I finally beat her by using my brute strength and my fire crystal technique. She gave up once she could feel her feet burning, and I eagerly got her out once she declared, "I give up!". I did ask her what her magic _was _before questioning her about how she got it, why she is so good, and other things.

She looked at me innocently, "It's Rainbow Wind Magic. I taught it to myself after watching my parents fight one day…. Is it bad?..."

I blushed lightly at getting her to even think that, "No, no, no! It's amazing, I'm just shocked that you can use it at all…"

Her face brightened at my compliment, "Really?"

I smiled at her, "Yep."

She jumped up and down with her fists in the air, "Yay!"

I smiled at her one last time before saying goodbye and heading to the Elite Four. She wished me luck, "Good luck Ritsu! I hope you win!"

I gave her a small wave while I was walking. With little to no effort, I made it to the Elite Four and the Champion. I know that my friends were the Elite Four, because I haven't seen them yet. I walked inside and showed the guards my gym badges and made my way to my first opponent.

Who both happened to be Reo and Mia together….

I tried my best not to look shocked, but it happened anyway. Mia smirked at me while Reo grinned while fixing something. Mia spoke with confidence,

"Well, Ritsu, so you _are _the main person."

It felt weird that Mia was talking like this to me instead of Leah…. "I-I am."

Reo seemed very out of character… "Ready to face _us, _Ritsu? I've been preparing for this."

I almost choked he was so out of character; it scared me a little. It must be the game's doing, "I-I am ready to face you…" _I can't even talk right because of how weird this is!_

I even felt a little humiliated at how I was talking. _These _are my friends and I'm certainly not a weakling. I can beat them; I'll just really have to think about it.

I stared them down sharply and went against my strange new speech, "Bring it on! Let's get started!"

Mia smirked again, "About time, ready Reo?"

Reo smirked back at her and nodded.

I launched forward and gave the first attack. I aimed for the floor, "Frozen Flame Dragon Roar!"

The blast of cold and hot fire launched me up into the air and I prepared to do something that I haven't done in awhile.

Polarizing.

I could feel myself start to try and mix the two elements together, but I resisted it. I yelled the appropriate saying while my foot was covered in pure, red flames, "Fire Dragon Talon!"

This shocked Mia enough that she didn't dodge my attack; allowing me to land a critical shot on her head. She grunted with pain as her head landed hard to the ground. Sadly for me, Mia wasn't the only person I have to worry about.

Reo snapped his fingers and magic bombs appeared all around me. They all represented a certain type, even fire and ice. Reo snapped his fingers again and the bombs went off. Mia protected herself with an iron shield, but I had nothing to protect myself against. I screeched in pain as the multi-type bombs wrecked havoc on my body.

My eyes were clamped shut. I managed to open them for only half a second, but I saw the ice and fire. I wasted no time. I ate all of it, and was actually very grateful that there was an even amount of both. I'm not going to have to feel like I'm dying of heat or cold… at least right now.

Reo sat in a corner, still very much out of character, "Frozenflame Dragon Slayer magic…. A very unique magic indeed. It has few weaknesses with its duel elements, and its polarizing ability gives the user the use of both Fire and Ice Dragon Slayer Magic alone as well. But it has one weakness that no single-type Dragon Slaying Magic has."

Reo almost looked evil. I could feel myself sweating, how does _he_ know?!

He had a satisfied smile on his face, "The user cannot eat too much of one element or risk killing themselves. Am I right, Ritsu?"

I looked at him, almost mortified, "How… How do you know this?"

Reo looked like he was mouthing something to me, but I couldn't read it, "That's for me to know, and for you to find out."

Before I had time to move, Reo pulled out a tiny gun with a flame on it. When he pulled the trigger, tightly packed explosions came shooting out of the gun right towards me. Things didn't get better with Mia having a huge iron army at her command…

"Iron Make! Army of Robot Soldiers!" she yelled while I was dodging (and occasionally getting hit) by Reo's exploding fire gun.

Her soldiers shot anything from lighting bullets to regular iron bullets. I could feel the bullets tearing into me. _No! I can't allow myself to die! I just can't! _

I felt so cheep using this one move to beat everyone, but at this point, it's one of my last options. My hands glistened with red as I prepared to aim for the floor, then I came up with a last minute idea.

"Dragon Slyer Secret Art! Fire Crystal Amor!"

I encased my own body in fire crystal and created an armor that would not only protect me from attacks but harm my opponents too. That is, if they weren't fire wizards.

Reo was my first target, his gun was having an effect on my armor, but it wasn't enough. I could see the tenseness in his face as I pulled my arm back to punch him in the face. It was a direct hit.

Once I defeated Reo, I made my way to Mia. She was prepared though.

"Iron Make! The Giant!"

Mia got inside the huge, iron giant and was controlling it from the inside. I bit down, this is going to be considerably harder…

I sighed, this is going to hurt.

I drew as much air as I could hold and prepared to polarize my breath attack, which is a _lot _harder than a move that's less than a blast.

Mia's giant arms were starting to come down on me, if I'm going to do this, it better be now. I ignited my feet with fire and flew in the air.

"Fire Dragon Roar!"

Pure flames erupted in a huge blast, beginning to melt the hard iron of Mia's giant. I felt cold flames start to mix in the blast when I was running out of power and my head already throbbing with pain.

I fell to the ground, almost immobile. Mia fell to the ground too and her giant fell apart. Mia sighed to me,

"I know your Natsu's son Ritsu, but was it really needed to wreck our room?"

_What? _My head jerked upwards to see the room scorched and broken wires sparking. I chastised myself, "Oh come on! I haven't done that in ages! I thought I was doing good!"

Reo regained consciousness and slowly walked over to me, his personality returned, "You definitely take after your father Ritsu…" he shrugged, "I don't know if that's a good or bad thing."

I laughed slightly, "I don't know… What happened to your attitude though? You're not arrogant!"

Reo laughed loudly, "It was the game. That's just the character I had to play. I _tried _to mouth it to you earlier, but you didn't get it."

I managed to sit up and scratch my head, "Yeah… I was a little oblivious there. I should of known."

Mia and Reo stood together, "Now go and face Jason. Gary should be the champion because the last Elite Four spot in empty and it hasn't been filled yet.

….

I walked into the next room to see swords and weapons placed everywhere with a plain, white battlefield in the center. Jason stood on the right side of it. He looked like he was waiting for me.

"Long time no see, Ritsu," he smiled at me genuinely.

"Seems like the game gave you some more freedom Jason. You're not different at all." I smirked at him a little.

Seeing my attitude, he smirked back, "The game isn't forcing me to do anything. I'm completely myself. Reo was scary wasn't he?"

Oh, I can play this game too, "Yeah he was. Were _you _scared?"

His smirk got bigger, "Terrified. Anyway, I assume you're here because you want to battle me and get to Gary, right?"

I smiled at his knowledge, "Yes I am."

Jason smiled at me, "Even though I want you to get to Gary, I'm not going to take it easy on you. It's good to test our strength once in a while, and rarely do we get to test it on each other like this, so I'm not wasting the opportunity."

My smile changed into a smirk again, "I guess the others felt the same way, they didn't take it easy on me that's for sure. But I accept your challenge."

It was after those words that I started to fear. Jason is extremely powerful and I might not actually be able to beat him. Dodging swords and other weapons are not my strong suit, so I'm also at a disadvantage there…. But I'm going to do my best to win.

Jason smiled at me as he got into battle position. I did too with sweat starting to run down my face. It's beginning.

I got the first move; I jumped high into the air. I had my fire jets under my and I realized that I couldn't expand them. The game wouldn't let me. It wasn't one of my moves. _Darn it, this game…_. Jason requiped to have his water sword; he threw it into the air and modified it quickly.

"Water sword level 2!"

I quickly changed to my breath attack, "Frozenflame Dragon Roar!"

Jason's sword was much more intricate. There was more detail on the hilt and the blue waves that made it up started to look more silver. The water that made up the blade was being pushed out by magic power in the hilt, causing to have a wavy look. Jason swiped at my roar with ease.

The water nullified the fire, but it froze when it reached the blue flames. This caused me to be hit with _ice _instead of liquid water… It was much more painful… I groaned as I flipped backwards and made it to my feet. Jason gave me no time.

He requipped to his lightning sword. I stared at him as I realized, he can change his move pool by using requip.

Oh great…

Jason changed the level of his lightning sword too, "Lightning sword level 3!"

The simple sparking of the blade changed to it being made of pure lighting and the generator that made up the hilt looked fancier. He took many swings at me and landed critical hits each time. I felt pain as the lighting started to paralyze me.

It was only a short time before the game registered me as paralyzed. Now I couldn't move every turn. I heard an annoying narrator voice saying inside my head, _Ritsu is paralyzed, he may be unable to move! _

I tried to move, but my body wouldn't let me. Jason took full advantage of this. He grabbed a nearby sword and modified both it and his lightning sword. I shivered as I realized he was going all out…

"Iron sword level 5! Lightning sword level 5!"

_Level 5 is his strongest level. He can cut down mountains at this point! _

I didn't have enough time to do anything but use the only move that could possibly save me from getting killed.

"Dragon Slayer Secret Art! Fire Crystal Armor!"

His blades cut though the crystal almost with ease, and the lightning from his sword was so bad I saw my life flash before my eyes. I felt myself starting to loose consciousness.

_Did I really just lose? _

My vision was blurry, but I could see Jason collapse. With barely any power left, I asked him, my voice barely even audible,

"What happened…?"

Jason's voice was just as inaudible as mine, "I… I ran out of power… It was the only way I could think of for you winning and me being able to not go easy on you…"

I laughed at his confidence, "Are you sure about that?"

He coughed, "It was to be sure…"

Jason struggled to get up and walked over to me slowly. He gave me a small, yellow square,

"This is a revive. Eat it and you'll be ready to fight Hono ahead of me."

I managed to take it from him and eat it. I suddenly felt my power return and also my senses….

I have to face _Hono _next.

My fear showed in my voice, "I…I have to face Hono?!"

Jason laughed, "Of course you do! You guys fight all the time, what's the big deal?"

I sulked, "I… I can't beat Hono…. He's a _dragon _for crying out loud. I _always _pass out when we fight… Worse, he's the dragon I got my powers from. That's the _worst _kind of dragon to face because he'll have defenses against my magic…."

Jason looked me in the eyes, "Then do what your magic says and slay a dragon."


	36. Chapter 35: Dragon vs Dragon Slayer

Chapter 35

Ritsu POV

I gulped as I made my way to Hono's room; the last room before the champion. No, I need to be confident. I stood up straight and resisted the temptation to gulp again.

His room was very mountainous, just like where we fought when we trained with his parents. We would always choose a place with no people there because we didn't want Hono's secret getting out and we didn't want to accidentally kill someone…

Hono stood on top of one of the mountains and looked down at me as I tried to make my way up one across from him. He had a smile on his face. When I got to the top of mine I smiled back at him.

Hono's voice was full of confidence, "Looks like you made it all the way here, Ritsu."

I gave him a big grin, "I sure did."

Hono laughed happily, "I'm so glad you were chosen as the main player. I've been itching for another spar between us."

I smiled as I felt nostalgia overtake me, "Yeah, it's been awhile…"

Hono smirked at me, "You did challenge me when we got to High Rise. How about we carry it out?"

Despite the fear and excitement starting inside me, I smirked at him, "Sure, let's go!"

Like always I had the first move. Even though I know this won't affect him, it would make our fight more fun, so I did it anyway, "Dragon Slayer Secret Art! Fire Crystal!"

I aimed at the floor, creating a layer of fire crystal spreading across the entire battlefield. I had a strange feeling like someone else was watching us. Then I heard the narrator say something that was nothing like the actual game. _I'm not going to let a fight like this go to waste. Both of you can use whatever moves you want. _

_Are you being serious?! _I thought back once he or she stopped.

"Well this is a fun development," I heard Hono yell to me as he took his move.

"Transform…" I heard him mumble as he grew in height, gained dragon wings, and was covered in red and ice blue dragon scales.

_So he's already going 2__nd__ seal… _Hono flapped his slightly larger dragon wings. I pushed fire out from my feet to lift myself into the air. I looked around for anything flammable. I saw a couple of valleys that had some plants, so I decided to aim towards those. I drew my breath into my cheeks,

My headache was starting to return, "Fire Dragon Roar!"

The valleys exploded, giving me flames to bend to my will. I rocketed over to where they valleys were. I could feel Hono catching me, he had the same idea I have, "That wasn't your smartest idea, Ritsu! I can use Passive just as well as you can, you know!"

Hono was almost on top of me! I frantically tried to steal fire to use before Hono took it from me. I moved all my fire to my right hand, amplified it, and balled my hand into a fist. I sighed, sorry Dad I'm stealing one of your moves for a second…

I uppercut right on Hono's jaw, "Fire Dragon Iron Fist!"

I heard a grunt of pain from Hono as he jerked backwards. He laughed a little as he scraped a little chipped scale, "I did _not _expect you to take one of your dad's moves… nor did I expect it to hurt so much!"

He smirked at me, "You've improved Ritsu."

Ahh, this brings back memories, "You sound like your parents, Hono. You _are _my age you know."

"Yeah, I'm glad you still remember how to steal fire though, you haven't used it in so _long _that I thought you'd forgotten…" Hono stood up straight.

We were back on the mountain tops now, "How could I forget? It's not that hard to do!" I smiled back at him as I could feel a flashback start in my head.

_"Okay Ritsu, Hono! Today I'm going to teach you something very important and useful for a multi element Dragon Slayer," Leanna held her finger up as she began to explain. _

_ She stood up straight, "There are two different types of Dragon Slayer Magic, Passive and Active. Most Dragon Slayer Magic is Active, Fire, Sky, Iron, Dark, Plasma, are just to name a few. There are only two so far that are considered Passive; they are Earth and Ice." _

_ "What's the difference between the two then?" Hono asked innocently. _

_ Leanna smiled confidently at her son, "Active means that you can make your element using your own body, but you can't bend outside sources of it. Passive is the opposite, you have the ability to bend and use outside sources of your element, but you can't make it yourself, save your breath attack of course." _

_ Both five-year-old Hono and Ritsu's eyes lit up in amazement, "That's cool! I didn't know that existed!" Ritsu cheered happily. _

_ Hono elbowed Ritsu in the side, "That's because all the Dragon Slayers you've met all use Active magic. I doubt they knew Passive even exists!" _

_ Leanna laughed at her students' excitement for Passive magic, it is her type after all, "Here's the part that makes it so useful for you two. Because you have one element that is Active and another that is Passive, you can transfer one into another. It gives you the ability to control outside flames and create your own ice!" _

_ Ritsu was fixing to jump and fist pump the air, "That's awesome!" _

_ Leanna beckoned her two students to follow her, "How about we get started about learning it?" _

_ "Yeah!" The two boys followed her into the mountains where that day's training was going to begin. _

"Ritsu! Ristu!" Hono yelled at me and snapped his fingers.

I snapped out of my flashback, "What?!"

Hono giggled, "You completely spaced out!"

I scratched my head, "Sorry about that."

"It's fine, how about show me that new move you told me about earlier?" Hono sounded intrigued.

I smirked, "If you insist…"

I got into position and pulled my arms as high and as close to me as I could. Red and ice blue magic circles started to appear around us in a circle, and a huge one made up half of the center. I started to take fire from under the "earth" where the magic circles were and gathered it in a huge cloud of blue fire. The red fire from the earth changed to blue just before it reached the cloud. It took a few minutes, but I got as much fire as I could into the cloud, including my own.

I jerked my arms downward, "Dragon Slayer Secret Art! Exploding Blue Rain!"

Small raindrops of cold explosions started to rain down on Hono until the cloud ran out of fire. I panted from lack of magic power as the attack finished itself. I was already starting to get dizzy.

When the mountain debris around disappeared, I saw that Hono used the nearby fire crystal to make a tent-like structure to protect himself.

Disappointment flooded though me. I gave that everything I had…

The fire crystal crumbled away to reveal Hono's shocked face, "Wow, Ristu…. I would have _never _expected a move like _that_."

Hono stumbled once before regaining his balance. I could see that his scales were even more chipped off than before. He smiled at me,

"How about we finish this?"

I gave him nothing in response; I had very little power left…

Hono ran at supersonic speeds with blades of fire crystal that I had to match. I coped the same attack with similar speeds that I was surprised I could still do. We fought with blades of ice and punches that you could feel the air coming off of. Occasionally Hono would hit me though a couple of mountains, but I would always find some way to stay awake.

I kept telling myself, _Just stay awake. Just stake awake. Just stay awake. _

I refused to give up, just like I always did when we've fought many times before…

And when I finally couldn't take it anymore and I felt myself fall, I gasped,

"Nothing's changed…"

….

When I started to regain consciousness, I could feel someone carrying me. He was going upwards, like going up stairs. My dad's scarf was starting to stick to me because of my sweat. I naturally grabbed onto it, it was scaly yet soft…

Suddenly I fell to the ground, I rubbed my head to see Hono standing above me. I smiled sheepishly, "I guess I loose then? I fainted…"

Hono shook his head, "No, you're far from loosing. I gave you a revive to wake you up," Hono had a soft smile on his face, "if all of our parents saw that, they would have been amazed. You've come a long way Ritsu."

I rolled my eyes as I got up, "Enough with the mushy talk, you've improved as much as I have."

"That's true."

"We've all improved."

Suddenly, I heard a familiar voice, "Long time no see, Ritsu."

I turned around to see Gary coming towards us, I smiled playfully at him, "You just had to put us though this, didn't you?"

Gary shrugged, "I was just mad, I had no intention of making you guys go though _all _this. I thought I was going get kicked out of the game sooner than this, but the guys that play this are such _weaklings_…"

I laughed, "So, am I facing you now?"

Gary sighed, "No, sadly, I was beaten by someone just before you got here…"

"You'll be facing me…" I felt myself tense as I saw _Leaem_, my rival, walk towards me.

"No way!" I barked out.

He eluded confidence like usual, "Yes way. I've defeated everyone here with _ease_. Are you ready to face me, Ritsu?"

But his voice keeps getting more feminine, "I've been wanting to beat you for a while… I think it's about time," I growled at him, being serious in my words.

"Then bring it on."

"My pleasure."

Our fight didn't last long. Against the true story of the game, my rival beat me, with _ease_. He used that one, cheep move that could force someone out of the game long enough for it to count, and it felt weird.

It was such a horrible feeling to loose to him. He walked over to me and his voice sounded nothing short of a girl's at this point. He pulled a bag out of his pocket and started to brush his hair straight.

I stared at him blankly, having no idea why he's doing this…

Then I started to see it, Leaem was starting to look like…

_Leah…. _

_No way… _"Leah?!"

She grinned at me with satisfaction, "Yep it's me. It's been me the whole time!"

Hono and Gary had their mouths open, Gary screeched,

"IT WAS YOU THE WHOLE TIME?!"

Leah giggled and nodded.

Gary looked physically ill now, "No way…. I did not expect that at _all_…"

Hono looked a little better, "No way…. How on earth did you get your hair to do that?..."

Leah blushed. _Ohhh! She has to share the secret now! _I giggled in brotherly satisfaction upon realizing that she had to share the secret she's been trying to hide her whole life.

She stumbled on her words, "I-I inherited it from my dad… My hair spikes out when it's wet…."

All of us burst out laughing and Leah yelled at us to stop,

"Come on, you guys! It's not that funny!"

That only made us laugh more. It was actually getting hard to breathe we were laughing so hard…

Our laughing stopped when we heard a crack in the ceiling. We looked up and saw an adult man with crazy blonde hair and bright blue eyes and a girl the same age with very dark green hair and almost black eyes fall from the ceiling. They both landed gracefully.

I assumed he was speaking to me,

"You've landed right in our trap…"


	37. Chapter 36: The Trap

Chapter 36

Leah POV

I looked our new guests in the eye, _who are you? _

Eventually I said my thoughts, "Who are you?!"

"I will say no more than the leaders of Team Virus," the green-haired girl said flatly.

_Something feels very off about these two… and it's not just their role in the game…_

I don't like this.

I started to feel dizzy all of the sudden. Three new people fell from the ceiling too, followed by a bunch of regular members.

These new people scared me even more than the leaders. Their magic signature…

I can tell that the leaders are human… but these three….

It's like their magic signature is non-existent…

I aimed my question at the three newcomers this time, "Who are you?!"

Even their voices sounded inhuman, "I doubt you really want to know," the one closest to me, a guy with long light brown hair, said sounding bored.

_Oh I want to know… _I growled in my thoughts. I _asked _him who he was. The heck I want to know!

"Leader…" the one furthest away from me, a girl with wavy white hair said, "enough magic has been absorbed to start the _machine_."

Gary was stunned, but he eventually got his composure, "What machine?! What the heck are you guys talking about?!"

Hono and Ritsu were tense and silent.

The guy leader sighed, "Might as well activate it, it's been long enough."

I gulped down asking what this _machine _was again. It was hard. I usually would ask it again without question, but for some reason I know they won't answer…

The last one of the three walked over to us, he was a shorter guy with dirty blonde hair that was so dirty it almost looked black, "You seem (giggle) confused (giggle)," he said excitedly, like he was enjoying something.

I resisted the temptation to attack him while he explained himself, "This building (giggle) is no other than Team Virus Headquarters (giggle). It was disguised as the Elite Four building so we could get enough magic energy from the participants who went up against the Elite Four (giggle)."

_What. _"There's a machine under the building (giggle). It can be used to summon any living creature (giggle), and we're going to be using it to summon the legendary Pokemon Akio and Leanna (lots of giggles)."

_No way, Akio and Leanna? They're here?! _"How does _that _help you rule the world?!" I screeched at him, still a little confused.

The guy's face looked ten-times more evil now, "The machine (giggle) also gives us the ability to _control _whoever we summon (giggle)."

"LEAH!" was all I heard before Jason ran into me to push me out of the way of a colossal wave of fire and ice coming from the bottom of the ceiling.

"Ow…" I grunted while Jason and I got up. I looked at the door to see everyone else standing there. Their faces were wide with shock.

I smiled and thanked him, "Thanks…" I paused for a second, "Wait… when did you guys get here?..."

Jason struggled a little to get up, "We heard noise that didn't sound like fighting, so we came up to see what was happening…"

I looked at the distance between me and the door, "How did you get all the way over here so fast?"

Jason scratched his head shyly, "I used the air vents…"

My face went into a state of total shock, "Really?!"

Jason seemed surprised, "I used them all the time in the guild hall… Where else do you think I go?"

I gave him a funny look, "To train?..."

Jason laughed, "Oh! I do go and do that, but most of the time I'm just hiding."

_I wonder why. _Suddenly, I saw the girl come up from the hole. It seemed like it was the wind that brought her up. She was levitating.

"Summoning successful, my leader," the white-haired girl bowed a little to the blonde leader.

The blonde leader smiled warmly at her, "Good job, start the operation."

_How did the game let him do that… _It was the little things that I was noticing that were making me terrified on the inside.

I was reading the magic signatures of everything here… and I noticed one thing was different.

They are getting those strange new codes I saw in Mission Control as we speak…

I looked around to see that Hono went off somewhere. Then it came to me.

If Akio and Leanna saw him now, they'd easily figure out his secret…

I glared at whatever I could see of Team Virus while I watched seven-year old Akio and Leanna make their way out of the hole out of the corner of my eye.

I started to feel dizzy again. _Those codes are dangerous Leah. Keep your eye on the three sub-leaders. _It was a voice in the back of my head. It sounded female and it was in a language that I've seemed to understand since I can remember.

_Why?... _I replied to her in the same language.

_Just do it! They give me a bad feeling! _

_Glad I'm not the only one. _

She rarely would show up in my mind, but we've developed a relationship over the years. Sometimes I feel I'm going insane that I talking to some girl inside of my head, but I know the voice doesn't belong to me.

Ritsu's stunned voice woke me from my thoughts, "Akio and Leanna?!"

Leanna was carrying Akio in the air by flapping her big, ice blue dragon wings.

Leanna sounded irritated, "What do you want with us? Don't you see I had to save this one here from falling into a _humongous_ hole?"

_That's exactly what she'd say in real life, but I'm pretty sure the game wants otherwise… How is everyone getting so out of character? _

Akio opened his eyes softly and groaned, "W-where are we?'

Leanna aimed her irritation at him now, "The training game you so desperately wanted to play."

Akio seemed pleasantly surprised, "Oh," he grabbed his arms. "It's really cold here…"

Then Leanna snapped, "Well I think it's really hot here, so deal with it."

The green-haired leader coughed, "You're ordered to help us eliminate _them_." She pointed at us.

Leanna threw Akio over to us, "Akio, _you_ wanted to do this, so _you _get to fight them."

Akio screamed before landing at our feet, "But I can't fight!"

Leanna sighed before leaving Akio to his work, "You _can _fight. You won't really need to try…"

Akio grunted as he landed flat on his stomach. He looked up at us nervously, "Hi, I'm supposed to be fighting you now, so…"

I came up with an idea, "Ritsu!" I called to my brother, "You take on Akio while I get the blonde leader! Everyone else take out the green-haired leader!"

To my udder surprise, everyone listened. Even Mia, but I could hear her grunting complaints as she fought. I smirked.

I expect no less.

I walked up to the blonde leader. His smile was wide, but I could see the game start to tear it down. He gave a stuffed laugh when we got close enough to talk,

"I've been waiting a while to face you, Miss Leah Dragneel. I've heard stories."

I could feel unexpected warmth in his words, "Do I know you?" I grunted at him.

He laughed again, the effects of the game gone now, "No, but you will eventually."

"JUST GET IT OVER WITH, YOU IDIOT!" It was the green-haired leader as she was fighting my friends. I stared at her wide-eyed. Clearly the game wasn't working on her either.

What's going on…

"I will Amber!" he called back lightly.

"I'm not planning on holding back…" I heard him whisper before his body was covered in visible sequences of codes that I've never seen before.

"Knock Out Magic…." Before I knew it, I was hit with punch that made me start to black out instantly. All I could hear is the narrator,

_Fire doesn't affect Akio. _

_Fire doesn't affect Akio. _

_Fire doesn't affect Akio. _

He or she was talking about Ritsu and Akio's fight. It stopped once he started using ice only moves.

Then I heard the announcement system before I passed out completely, "All players meet in Town Central. The opening ceremony for the All-Game Tournament is about to begin. All players in training games will be teleported immediately."

_So it's finally time. _

…

Third Person POV

The three "sub-leaders" of Team Virus were meeting in their makeshift guild hall. The teleportation spell didn't work on them.

"We've completed our mission so well (giggles)!" The giggling guy exclaimed happily.

The white-haired girl was silent; she didn't feel the need to talk.

The other two members of their guild made their appearance, "How easily? Is it how we managed to infect this entire game system with our infectious codes?" He was an extremely tall man with dark hair. He was so thin that it seemed unnatural.

"This phase was so _boring _to me. I glad that it's finally over." The long-brown haired one commented.

The strongest one talked loudly, "I agree with all of you, and I'm just as excited about finding our masters in this game."

The giggling one said, "I'm so _so_ excited (lots and lots of giggles)!"

"That might not actually be boring."

"How excited should I be over this?"

The white haired girl was quiet still.

The strongest one laughed sadistically, "And like you, I'm also excited to bring this pitiful game to its knees. As well as its just as pitiful leader."

His laugh got louder, "And it will all happen in the All-Game Tournament. A tournament where the last guilds standing win."


	38. Chapter 37: Opening Ceremony

Chapter 37

Leah POV

The teleporting systems forced us out of the training game and into Town Central. It is time for the annual opening ceremony party.

I've been looking forward to it since we got here.

Well…. After I got caught up on traps…

I just finished before my friends went into that training game…

I looked over at everyone, sitting in a random corner squished by the masses of players, and laughed a little at their shocked faces. We've had this for so long and they _still _look surprised when that happens! It's so amusing!

I heard a scream in the distance, "Leah!"

I spaced out a little, trying to recognize the voice.

"Leah! Hey Leah!"

I looked behind me and saw Alice holding Aiden and Jackson by the collar, pushing her way though the massive crowd.

Actually she was pushing people away so hard that it looked painful…

She finally got to me after a few minutes of pushing will all her might, she said excitedly, "I can't believe it's time for the opening party again! I've been looking forward to it the whole year!"

I smiled at her, excided too, "I know! I've forgotten about it because of what happened with my parents, but I'm excided now."

She glanced at Aiden and then back at me. She had a… strange look. It looked evil, yet… not. It was familiar but I couldn't put my mind on it.

It doesn't mean I wasn't worried now though.

Alice elbowed Aiden as he made his way up and he grunted and glared at her. He seemed more… nervous when he talked, "Who's doing the entertainment this year then?..."

I leaned forward and gave him a hard look of suspicion, he's not acting right and I want to know why.

I could see the sweat on his skin, "What's going on? Your not acting right."

Jackson didn't look much better than Aiden, but he didn't sound nervous at least, "It's nothing… We're ok…"

I didn't believe him in the slightest, "You sure? Your not really acting right either Jackson. Tell me if I'm wrong, but aren't you cheerful normally?"

Jackson shrunk backwards, he didn't reply. I was starting to get frustrated. _They still aren't acting right! What's going on?!_

I glared at the ground. The curiosity and concern is starting to kill me.

I sighed and replied to Aiden's question, "Singing Sirens is doing it, like _normal_."

Aiden almost smiled, but it went away quickly. Maybe he could hear some of emphasis I put on "normal".

Alice still had that look on her face. I'm really starting to get scared now.

The rest of my friends finally started to push their way over here. Mia looked me in the eyes with her seeming endless face of irritation,

"Why. Is. It. Like. This. Every. Year."

"Oh, so you dislike it Mia?" I smirked at her, happy to be pushing her buttons again.

She glared at me harshly, "No! I dislike crowds, and I hate people touching me even more!"

Gary gave her a dumb look, "You probably shouldn't have said that…"

Oh and is he right.

I walked right over to her and gave her the tightest hug I could manage. Mia screeched at the top of her lungs,

"STTTOOOOPPPP!"

"Nope," I giggled to her in happiness.

"Then I'll make you!" she brought her arm back to elbow me, "Iron Make Bodily Machine!"

I gasped in pain as I felt the tenacity of two steamrollers go right over me. I grunted in pain while she watched me in satisfaction,

"Take that," she smirked.

Sheer rage went though me. I gave her a glare that would scare Erza half to death, "Change…" I grabbed onto the reminisce of her magic codes, "Slicing Magical Disk!"

Her left over magic immediately changed into hundreds of tiny disks made of magic power. I aimed them right at Mia.

I wasn't thinking and she had no time to dodge.

"Wha?..." she gasped before the disks closed in on her.

My sanity started to return when I heard her screams of pain, it was the first time I ever felt bad about hurting her. My pride almost made the feeling irritating.

When the smoke cleared, I know the feeling wasn't mutual.

Her glare matched mine from earlier, but I wasn't afraid.

I was determined.

I prepared to defend myself, but before our fight could continue I heard the desperate screams form everyone around us,

"STOP! Do you want to destroy the whole game system?!"

Mia and I stopped mid air, our faces lined with guilt. We stood up straight and glared at each other occasionally with our backs turned.

Jason motioned to the holographic screens in the front of us before the game started to relay the rules for the tournament.

The automated announcer lady started talking, everyone stopped talking immediately,

"Welcome to the 8th annual All-Game Tournament. As some of you already know, all of the internal guilds are broken up into teams of three. Each guild sends in three "traps" that activate when an enemy guild or guild member walks on their territory. Along with the guild's natural fighting force, those are the defenses and offences of the tournament. All of the external guilds and independent players are put on the same team, because there is so few to begin with."

She continued, "The winner will be the team left standing and the most powerful guild and player are chosen from that team. Stats are taken throughout the entire tournament to decide this."

"The tournament will last for one day in real time, and two days in game time. All magic is allowed except Black Magic. Anyone who breaks these rules will have consequences."

_And without further ado, the entertainment begins… _

The announcer cut off and we were welcomed by Singing Sirens. Kara, as their guild master, was leading them.

She was really starting to get into it, "You guys ready?!"

Most of the crowd was screaming "yeah!" and was dancing the night away as popular music from every country present was playing. Kara was playing the drums while Kikoe, like normal, was in sound production.

There were some, including Jason and occasionally Gary, who didn't really care for this so they just hanged back and watched.

We were all having so much fun. Alice even got Aiden to dance with me, which I blushed at the entire time. Aiden just looked awkward, but at least he was relatively normal.

Little did I know, I was going to see my game system quickly start to fall apart right before my eyes with the lives of everyone present in danger.


	39. Chapter 38: Death Setting

Chapter 38

Leah POV

Once the party was over, the announcer put all of the guilds into their respective teams, all except the external guilds and the independent players of course. I started to let myself slip away. Despite how much I brutally wanted to compete in the tournament, it wasn't allowed. I was the leader, and it would be an unfair advantage if I was on a team.

It didn't mean I didn't try though.

Year after year, I would try and make my way from Mission Control to the tournament, but the voice inside of my head wouldn't let me. It was like she was standing there invisible, holding on to my arms with surprising strength.

Speaking about the voice in my head, she would occasionally have an argument with an older sounding person that happened to be her grandmother….

It was really starting to creep me out.

_How long are you going to torture this girl? _

_ What makes you say I'm torturing her, Grandma?! _

_ You never understand the weight of what you do. I doubt you never will. _

_ Geez Grandma! Way to be harsh!_

_ It's true though… _

_ Just go away…._

_ Do you really want me to? I some of the little company you have left._

_ ….._

And that was recently…

I heard the teams while I was walking though the crowd, my friends are too far away to see or hear me. They are chosen randomly, and I was curious so I listened carefully.

Team 1: High Rise, The Little Misfits, and The Dwarfs

Team 2: Singing Sirens, Clashing Giants, and Monster Under Your Bed

Team 3: The Crybabies, Big sticks and Giant Stones, and The Historic Jaywalkers

Team 4: Intercity Madness, Foodies of Strength, and Extraordinary Feats

The list kept going on and on. I was a little scared and excited about Team 3 and 4 though; The Crybabies and Intercity Madness have quite the rivalry…

I was a little sad that Singing Sirens and High Rise weren't on the same team; they have a really good relationship.

I felt the stabbing of the fighter in me. I want to participate so bad…

But I can't…

Man, this is frustrating….

It didn't take me long before I reached Mission Control, cold and soaking wet because I constantly forget to put a towel somewhere. When I got up there, I decided that I should check the globe again, to see if those strange red codes were still there.

When the globe first showed up, it was completely clear and I sighed in relief.

But a second later it started turning red with the strange codes….

_No…_

Till the whole globe was completely infected with them….

_No, no…._

I watched with horror as I saw the red codes start to change the entire makeup of the game, and… all I could do was watch.

My game was slowly starting to be taken over by a hacker that I suspected was the source of these codes. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see an entire setting being changed.

My breath caught in my throat. _No… No…. No way… _

The Death Setting was turned off.

_NO!_

And the tournament was already well underway.

…

Ritsu POV

We were teleported to our team's base; the extras team of the external guilds and independent players. Let's just say there were at least a couple of familiar faces.

The two people we faced in the Pokémon training game walked over to us and started talking, apparently they were independent players.

The blonde guy smiled casually, "So you are the guys we faced in that training game?"

The dark green haired girl sighed, "That's not how you start a conversation, you idiot."

He put an arm around her, "Come on! Lighten up!"

"Not that I've ever seen you like this, you seem drunk or something…"

"HEY!"

"You really do."

I laughed, "Well, even though he didn't "start the conversation" right, I'm Ritsu Dragneel. It's nice to meet you, formally at least," I held out my hand.

I shook both of their hands.

The blonde guy apparently was more of a talker, "Where are all of your other friends?" He put his hands on his hips.

I looked around. _Wait, where is everyone? _I looked down. _Great, everyone just decides to get up and disappear! _

I sighed, "I have no idea, they just went off…"

"I'd like to meet them if you get the chance."

"Don't expect a happy reaction from Gary…."

He was about to respond but a young girl interrupted him yelling,

"Fairy Tail?"

A girl who looked a few years older than me walked over. Her hair was a very dark brown, almost black and had multi-colored eyes. They had almost every color of the rainbow in them…

She straight up asked me who I was, "Are you in Fairy Tail?"

Having never seen this girl in my life, I answered her questioningly, "Yes?"

She giggled a little, "My name's Maylon, I'm from a guild called Shooting Star. You weren't there, but we got into a fight with your guild over some missing members. It's resolved now, and we're allies."

_Maylon. Why does that name sound so familiar?..._

I was surprised and intrigued at the same time, "Missing members? What?"

Maylon looked like she wanted to bounce off the walls with energy, "Your guild got a fake note about us stealing some of your members. It was a huge misunderstanding, but your guild attacked before they found out."

Then it clicked. _Maylon is the name of Hono's aunt… _

I need more information, "If you don't mind, what kind of magic do you use?"

She looked a little confused, but she answered, "Seasonal Dragon Slayer Magic."

I stepped back without realizing it. _She is Hono's aunt! _

She bent down and shook me a little, "Hello? Are you ok?"

I snapped back to reality, "Yes I'm fine!"

Then her eyes sparkled with realization, "You couldn't be… one of the missing members they were talking about right?"

My voice was full of realization, "I think we are… That note must have been left by Endless Nightmare…"

"Endless Nightmare?"

Suddenly I heard two voices calling to us in unison, "Hey, what are you talking about?"

Both of us turned to see Hono and a very tall, strangely dressed, young man with the neatest blonde hair I've ever seen.

Maylon was almost reduced to tears once she saw Hono, "Hono! Is it really you?!"

Hono jumped at the sound of his name, "Oh shoot!" Clearly he wasn't expecting to see Maylon.

Maylon ran over to him and tackled him with a bear hug. Hono struggled to breathe, "Hey…. Aunt Maylon…. It's nice to see… you too…."

The neat, blonde guy looked extremely confused, "What the heck is going on here?" he smirked a little tightly and teased, "Does little Maylon have a little boyfriend she's never told anyone about?"

She let go and almost sung to him, "No! He's my nephew, Makio!"

Makio was pleasantly surprised by her attitude; he whispered to me, "It was _so _worth it to bring a bunch of fans into the game…"

It earned a confused look from me.

Hono looked surprised and terrified, "You're on Sky Magic right now aren't you? I just _had _to meet you when your on Sky Magic, didn't I?!"

Maylon growled playfully at him, "Don't be so terrified! Where were you?! Where's Mom? Leanna? Akio? Aunt Nirvana? Anyone?!"

I felt a sharp pain go though me, and I know Hono felt it too, "I… I don't know… Mom and Dad disappeared seven years ago… Aunt Nirvana and Uncle Ed too…"

Maylon's face screamed disappointment, "I'm sorry. I was just excited… I've gone ten years without hearing _anything _from anyone. Do you know anything about Yuma by chance? He's the last person I can think of except…"

Hono's voice was even more pained, "He's working for a dark guild called Endless Nightmare…"

Maylon looked over to me, "What kind of magic does he use?"

Hono looked at me and I nodded, "He uses Frozenflame Dragon Slayer Magic. He got his powers from me and was trained by my parents along with me…"

Maylon smiled and walked over to me, her face warm, "Welcome to the family, I never asked you your name... Sorry about that, I get chatty when I'm on Sky Magic."

I still don't understand why "being on Sky Magic" would affect her personality… "My name's Ritsu Dragneel. I'm Salamander and Lucy Heartfilia's son."

Makio spoke before Maylon got the chance too, "Wow Maylon, are you so dense that you can't see that he doesn't understand a thing about your magic?"

Hono growled to him, "You sure are taking advantage of her type right now…"

Makio growled a low, "Shut up," to him before Maylon started to explain her magic to me,

"My particular type of Dragon Slayer Magic allows me to adapt to the temperature, texture of the ground, and a bunch of other factors to change my magic type. That's why it's called Seasonal, sadly though, like all adaption types, it causes my personality to change to the "true nature" of the type I'm mostly affected by. The type change also causes my eyes and roots of my hair to change color."

I did a long "oh."

Hono asked her a serious question, "Aunt Maylon, did you happen to find a golden key piece while you were looking for Aunt Skyla?"

Maylon looked confused but answered quickly, "I did. It was covered in dirt before I brought it to the village I was staying in, but once we cleaned it off and once we touched it the whole village appeared in a strange forest in a matter of a second…"

Hono growled, "Only if Jason would show up from wherever he was hiding…" he looked Maylon in the eyes, "I think your village was transported to the past because of the Dream Key piece you found."

_So that village we fought Endless Nightmare in, was the village she came from?_

"So.. The entire time we were in the past?..."

Hono nodded, "Yes, Jason should have the key piece you found right now. The Dream Key is the main reason we're here."

"I _know _we're in the right time now because I recognize almost everyone here. Are you sure?"

Hono nodded, "I'm certain. The game system will bring you in whatever time it was made in if you still have the teleportation system."

Maylon frowned, "You're right."

"Why do I have to be on the same team as you?! You'd just blow everything up!"

I cringed as I heard the screams of two women fixing to get in a full on fight. One had red hair a shade or two lighter than Erza's with tan skin similar to my own with dark eyes matching mine. The other had pitch black hair that was more on the wild side and dark eyes that reminded me of Mia.

"I _only _blow things up when I cook Rayna! You just can't stand to work with anyone, can you?!"

I could see them having each other by the neck, "I can work with whoever the heck I want to!"

I heard Maylon and Makio sigh, "They're at it again."

Then I heard the voices of two children, one clearly having a problem with another, "You're such a baby Akio, who gets cold that easily?"

My eyes widened to see a young Akio and Leanna walking past us, "I just do! You're not explaining why you wear nothing but the thinnest tank top I've ever seen all year long. Always complaining about how hot everything is… Like you're going to die… Like you wish you could take off more, but you can't…." Akio's voice was shivering with cold.

I could feel myself almost start to cry, "Shut. Up. You have no idea what you're talking about." Leanna glared at him so harshly that he did shut up.

My confusion started to take over my sadness, _How did they get a teleportation system?_

Len's voice was so soft behind me that only my Dragon Slayer senses were able to pick it up, "Akio... Is that really you?..."

_How do they know each other? I've never even met this woman before, and I've known Akio for years!_

Maylon and Hono were speechless, "That's them when they were younger, huh."

Hono nodded solemnly.

Maylon sighed, "I guess it's best that we don't talk to them for now then."

I could see Maylon's eyes turn blue as she started to drink a nearby glass of water. Her powers were kinda strange, but I couldn't help but think it was cool.

After about a minute or so, the chatter from everyone around us stopped suddenly. All of us turned around to see the dark green haired lady on the large stage ready to speak. I looked around to see the rest of my friends start to gather where I was.

She sounded a little irritated, "I'm glad I _finally _have your attention. My name is Amber, and I will be the one keeping order around here for the tournament. We need to come up with a strategy for victory here," her voice was booming with confidence as she continued, "We may have the most difficulties _getting along _than the other teams because we are so diverse, but I believe we have the ability to win this. If I didn't, even I would be an idiot."

The blonde guy was on stage with her, he sounded very formal compared to before, "I propose this strategy. We all split up into four to six person teams and spread apart to attack the different guilds at once. We are all powerful wizards that may be part of an external guild. We can handle this, and it would keep us from arguing with each other."

No one spoke against it, there really wasn't a better plan in actuality. I already had a great idea about to take out so many guild halls. I was getting giddy just thinking about it.

The sad thing is that I know Leah can't participate, and I need to try in vein not to let her secret slip if anyone asks where she is.

I was in a team with Hono, Maylon, Makio, Len, and Reyna. Julia, Gary, Ren, Reo, and the egg went as another team. Amber and the blonde guy, whose name I still don't know, went by themselves instead of with another team. It was a little weird.

We set out, and our first target was none other than the guild who offered our entertainment, Singing Sirens.


	40. Chapter 39: How Many?

Chapter 39

Mia POV

I huffed my way out of our hideout. Oh, so my _friends _think it's ok to ditch me and go off on separate teams without me? Not cool! I'm going to give them a piece of my mind when I find them!

_I'm going to find the others later. I need to vent on someone. _I decided to go to where The Crybabies' hideout was. The Crybabies were by far the easiest guild to defeat of all the internal guilds. Their actual name isn't "The Crybabies". Innercity Madness just gave them that nickname because they all act like crybabies once you easily defeat them. No one knows their real name, and most people don't care.

I don't care how much of a rivalry they have with Innercity Madness, if both are there I take them out both. If only one is there, I take it out; end of story.

I hid behind a pole keeping the dock afloat. The Crybabies had their guild hall afloat in a man made lake. It's rumored that the water coming out the sides of the circular guildhall were the tears of their members.

I got into fighting stance. I felt the crazy excitement in my eyes, "Iron Make," I smirked, "Warship…"

A huge light green magic circle that looked like my dad's without the Dragon Slayer insignia in the middle appeared in my hands and in the ocean. Immediately, a warship the size of the ocean's magic circle appeared a few feet away from The Crybabies' guild hall.

I ran as fast as I could off the dock and jumped using a pair of springs I made. I barely, but skillfully made it to my ship. As soon as I stepped on my ship, something cracked.

I froze.

I looked down and saw a huge water magic circle, and before I knew it I was swallowed by a whirlpool the size of the guild hall next to me.

_Shoot! _I started to chastise myself in frustration. _I completely forgot about the traps! _

_ Something like this isn't going to stop me! _"Iron Make! Rocket Boots!"

Iron rocket boots appeared at my feet and I pushed against the water above me with all my might. It was starting to cave in.

_Something. Like. This. Isn't. Going. To. Stop. Me. _I pushed with all my might, "Urahhh!" I screamed.

The fire fueling my boots became stronger until it was a cloud of fire under my feet. It was my determination showing though my magic.

I pushed so hard through the water that I went ten or so feet into the air. I put my hands out to the side, "Iron Make! Airplane!"

A fighter's airplane appeared where I was falling. I was in the pilot's seat, ready to take action. I pushed the flying lever forward and two magic circles appeared in front of the plane. I started to shoot the guild hall down with exploding bullets.

Then BOOM they hit on target.

But that set off another trap.

_What's with me today?! _

This time a huge mechanical whale came out of the water behind me, ready to eat me. I was bracing for impact, but before it could.

It stopped.

I watched it in shock as it went back down into the water. I looked around to see if this was a player's doing.

An unknown voice appeared behind me, "How many lives is it now?"

I jerked behind me and blurted at the extremely skinny and tall man in front of me, "Who are you?!"

His looks and voice were as impassive as his personality, "Who am I? Is my true self that unclear to you?"

I got a magic circle ready. I was fixing to punch him if he didn't give me the information I want, "Don't make me ask again. Who. Are. You?"

He refused to meet my gaze, "What is the true objective of a computer virus? Tell me, is it anything but to destroy the system it was put in?"

I growled at him, "What are you talking about?"

If he tells me one more pointless question, I _will _punch him.

"As a computer virus, it is my job to use my power, isn't it? Will it always be the power to control the 'living' creatures of this game?"

_That's it! _I launched forward and punched him in the face, as hard as I possibly could.

But he barely even flinched.

_What's with this guy? He's so thin… How could he take my punches so well?_

"I see, are you unaware of the murder you just committed?"

I glared at him harshly, "I don't know what planet you came from, but in this game when you kill someone they don't actually die. They just respawn at a watching area until the tournament is over!"

The man's shaggy dark hair was covering his eyes. Now that I looking closely at him, he seems no older than eighteen.

He was still one of the most annoying people I've ever met, and this is including Leah….

"Is your ignorance so great? Do you not know the very setting that controls that has been cut off?" His voice was completely blank.

Horror started to fill me, "What do you mean?!" I screeched at the top of my lungs.

Right as I charged to attack him, he said one final question before our fight began, "How many deaths is it now?"

…..

Ritsu POV

We were heading right towards Singing Sirens. Len was giving me strange looks while we were walking though. It was almost like… double takes…

Maylon noticed and asked her, "Hey Len, are you okay?"

Len was half distracted with something, like she was watching something. Maylon raised her voice, "Len? Len?!"

Len snapped back, "What?"

Maylon gave her a look, her set element slowly changing to earth, "You were spacing out, and you were giving Ritsu strange looks. Does this have something to do with your anesthesia?"

I spoke without thinking about it, "Anesthesia?"

Maylon sighed and glanced at Len. She nodded quickly, "I guess I should explain," Maylon's voice was starting to boom with her attitude.

I listened carefully, "Len can remember nothing from her past since Master found her when we were building our first guild hall, but recently she's been recalling things."

Len nodded, "I can remember the memories I've made since then though too," her face grew solemn, "even my adopted son who had to run away when our village was attacked…"

I felt bad for making her remember something that clearly makes her sad, "I'm sorry…"

She put a hand on my shoulder, her smile was almost motherly, "It's fine, I don't really mind remembering it. At least now."

Maylon was much more direct now because of her magic, "Why now?"

Len smiled at her now, "Because I think I saw him while we were at the hideout… He was just too distracted to notice…"

Maylon was clearly confused, "Huh?"

Rayna groaned from behind us, she looked pained, "Can we not talk about all this depressing stuff? We're here to fight, we need to keep our spirits up."

Len growled under her breath, "And what do you know about that?..."

Then five seconds later Len and Rayna were in each other faces ready to fight.

The look Len gave me stuck with me… It reminded me of my mother…

I miss her.

Hono walked over to me, his own face looking pained with a trace of surprise. Despite that he put an arm around me and gave me a reassuring smile. I returned it.

Rayna is right though. The mood _is_ getting depressing.

At least Makio is here to unfailingly cheer us up.

He put his hands behind his head, any pained expression from before was gone, he punched Maylon in the arm and teased her, "You always _have_ to ruin the mood, _don't _you Maylon? Why couldn't you ignore it like a _normal _person?"

Maylon turned to meet him in the eyes; "I thought something was wrong so I spoke my mind. Do you have a problem with it?" her voice was as hard as a rock.

Makio jerked back with his hands up in surrender, "Woah! Don't kill me Earth Princess. I'm just saying."

I could see that her eyes had a hint of ice blue in it. It is getting colder all of the sudden, "Well I say your being ridiculous." Ouch that was cold.

That must be her ice personality. Earth is directness while Ice is just being straight cold with her words.

I wonder what the rest are.

But Makio handled it like a pro, "When am I not?" his smile was wide.

We all laughed when Maylon proceeded to punch him hard on the shoulder. Makio really did know how to lift the mood.

It started getting colder and colder until I started hearing the banging of sticks on ice. After that it felt like a blizzard was starting to come in. Despite the ice half of my powers helping, I couldn't help but shiver uncontrollably.

The banging got faster.

And faster.

And faster.

Until it was starting to hurt my ears.

Then I heard a familiar voice in the blizzard of snow that appeared out of no where, "Sound Dragon…"

Then we were hit with an even more powerful blizzard of ice, "Roar!"

We were all blown back to the nearest rock we could run into, and it hurt like heck.

We all groaned in pain as the blizzard lifted, but the music kept playing.

The snow lifted to reveal none other than Kikoe, headphones removed.

I shouted in shock, "Kikoe! You're… You're a Dragon Slayer?! How?!"

His face wasn't locked on me though. It was locked on Maylon.

"Maylon?..."

…

Maylon POV

At first the realization didn't hit me. But I couldn't help the familiar feeling I felt when I looked at the Adaption Dragon Slayer in front of me. His features were full of shock and confusion, "Maylon?..."

Even though my powers were telling me to, I couldn't speak harshly to him, "W-who are you?" My voice was surprised and gentle.

I could hear a muffled growl coming from Makio. He stepped in front of me, "Who are you?" he was glaring at the boy with a new kind of anger that surprised me.

The boy was too shocked to handle Makio's hidden threat, "Um… uh…"

Makio's anger almost seemed protective, it was strange, "Tell me who you are or you'll face the consequences."

Then realization hit the boy's eyes, "We're not like that…" his voice was almost inaudible.

I blushed a little once I realized what Makio was feeling, _is he jealous?_

Makio turned his head to the side and walked back behind me, and after looking at the boy's face for a second. I could remember my earliest memory.

A boy and me being saved by two dragon families, one was full of sound and the other the colors of the seasons. He called me sister.

This boy… is my twin brother…


	41. Chapter 40: Brother vs Sister

Chapter 40

Leah POV

_Back with Leah _

When I saw the setting that controlled the Death Setting, it almost felt like my heart stopped. I was shivering as I read the codes again to make sure.

I read them again and again and again.

They wouldn't change.

_I have to do something… _

Then I voiced my thoughts with a low growl and my teeth clinched, "I have to stop this…"

As soon as I finished my sentence, the voice inside of my head returned,

_Leah, I know what you want to do. I'm telling you right now, don't do it!_

_Your friends should be able to handle it on their own I'm sure of it! _

I thought back to her angrily,

_I… I can't put my luck on that… _

The voice almost seemed offended,

_Do you seriously think they can't handle it?!_

I could feel my mixed emotions of terror and anger wrecking havoc on my mind, and the voice inside my head isn't helping…

_Look! I'm not going to put millions of peoples' lives at risk just to cover up my identity! _

My own thoughts were starting to resemble my shaking body.

_What are you talking about?! _

Oh, and she doesn't know what's going on. I don't buy it.

_Don't act like you're oblivious to what's happened! You know full well what the Death Setting controls!_

All I got in return was dead silence, but my anger wouldn't let me continue it. I started to remind her how I created the game to begin with.

As harshly as my thoughts would let me…

_The Death Setting is a control that supports the Life Cycle system that's implanted in the Illusionary magic that I use to make this game look like a second universe. It took me years to come up with it without breaking a few magical laws. _

_I created new kind of Illusion magic that turns everything it's set on into an illusion. I call it Animate. Over the years, I created a cycle that would break you once the magic registered you "died" and recycle your life codes, allowing you to regenerate. _

I glared at the nagging presence behind me.

_Because everything is an illusion, no magical laws were broken creating this cycle. Eventually, I named the codes that controlled it the Death Setting. _

I screamed the rest out loud as loud as I could, "And if the Death Setting is turned off…" I glared at the floor, "the life codes will not be recycled and they will scatter into the game. In short, anyone who dies during this tournament is _actually _dead!"

I was starting to push back determined tears, "That's why I need to go…"

I felt a new feeling that was unlike any other I've felt so far, it was like an uncontrollable need to make things right and protect…

Is this what it means to be a Fairy Tail wizard?

My face was contorted with my emotions, "And you can't stop me."

…

_At the Singing Sirens Guild Hall…_

Maylon POV

I looked at my brother while he looked at me with tears starting in his eyes. I asked him, my voice showing surprise,

"H-how did you get out of Fiore? Out of this dimension?!"

Kikoe looked down, "It was the measures my family had to take to protect me from _him_."

I knew full well who _him _was. _Him _was the dragon that attacked my family.

It must have been the same for him too.

My instincts were starting to take over again; my words were starting to come without being filtered, "Even though you are my twin brother, I will beat you. Family ties won't save you from my desire to win this tournament."

I could tell by the light blue roots of his hair that he was on the same element I was, so he clearly didn't hold anything back from me, "I can say the same for you. It's not like I'm here to lose, and I _won't _let my guild's as well as my own secret out without a fight…."

When we got into fighting stance, I could almost have sworn that I could hear a giggle.

Makio struggled to say much. I barely hear his voice coming from behind me,

"So… Maylon has a brother she never cared to tell anyone about? What kind of friend does that?..."

I wanted to punch him in the face. I have the right to tell whomever I want to tell; our friendship doesn't change that. It's not something I choose to share.

I ignored Makio strangely sad sounding words and put my sights on my brother. I was so focused that I didn't notice anything but the movements of my opponent.

I put my hands to the ground, "Seasonal Dragon Wall!"

A multi-colored magic circle appeared under my brother and a wall of ice shot up out of the ground at him. This forced my brother up into the air.

I jumped up into the air to kick him back to the ground, but my brother got the upper hand.

"From the beating of the drums that sound like rocks falling from a mountain…." he said, "Sound Dragon Mountain."

With no time to dodge, small mountain of earth pierced though my arm. I screamed in pain as I struggled to free my arm. I clutched it tightly grunting in pain.

I glared at Kikoe with vengeance. So he want's to play dirty, does he?

I huffed. I might not be adapted to earth enough to do this…

Back on the ground, I went with one of my bigger attacks, "Dragon Slayer Secret Art! Ice and Earth! The Giant!"

To my luck, the spell activated. The snow and ice around me started to harden into extremely durable rocks and they started to pile up around me until I was in the center of a huge ice giant. I punched forward.

The giant responded as his arm rushed towards where my little, wittle, brother was standing looking clueless.

Or at least that's what I thought.

I could barely see it; it was so small. Kikoe had his headphones back on, and the roots of his hair were no longer an ice blue or an emerald green.

They were red.

_You got to be kidding me… He uses those headphones to change his type at will? How is he not feeling horrible?! _

Just as he was preparing to do his breath attack, I answered my own questions.

He was the older twin… His ten years of power development were over while mine were still developing.

Shoot.

I braced myself for the siege of fire that enveloped my giant once he yelled, "Sound Dragon Roar!"

I couldn't keep myself from screaming as my giant fell to the ground with me still inside it. My body was covered in minor burns.

_This is going to be a lot harder than I thought… _

Kikoe didn't look at me with aggression, or really any kind of emotion. He just smiled and did a little laugh,

"So your adaption part of your magic is still developing, Maylon? No offense, but you just lost a major advantage."

"Shut up, Kikoe. You've never been the fighting type, but what's with your attitude? With _Fire _Dragon Slayer Magic you should be more out of control right now!"

Kikoe laughed lightly, "I changed the song. The one I'm listening to is neutral, so the personality effects don't work on me. If I wasn't wearing contacts, my eyes would have a verity of colors."

I growled, "It's like you take pride in it."

He wasted no time in an answer, "I do. It's one of the few things in magic that I can do better than you. Like you said, I'm not the fighting type, so this makes up for it."

I took my hand off my arm, the blood coming from it frozen, "I'm also guessing that like me, you hate to lose?"

He looked down, "That's true…"

"Well we are related…"

Kikoe coughed and said formally, "We can catch up later, we need to finish this."

The ice side of me couldn't wait to say this, "My pleasure."

Just as we were about to charge at each other again, I heard a giggling voice.

"Are you sure (giggle), you want to do that?"

I tensed as I saw a shorter, dirty blonde haired man who was making his way towards us.

"(giggles) I am here looking for some people. I know for a fact you know where they (giggle) are."

Kikoe sweat dropped while stepping back, while I did the more intelligent thing and yelled at him, "What the heck are you talking about?! Who are you?!"

"(creepy giggles) I see that Tano has already run into one of your friends. (giggle) What an unfortunate fate for her."

Suddenly he appeared right in front of Ritsu and giggled, "Open.."

Then a portal containing pounds on top of pounds of garbage fell on Ritsu. The man giggled loudly.

"I knew (giggle) that would be hilarious!"

As expected, Ritsu wasn't happy…

"WHAT THE HECK?! WHY ME?!" he screeched at the dirty blonde as loud as his twelve-year old voice would let him.

It actually started to hurt my sensitive dragon ears…

The guy giggled so much that he started to clench his stomach in laughter, "Your reaction is even (giggles) more funny!"

One look in Ritsu's eyes told me that he was fixing to murder this guy. I sighed; I don't blame him.

Just as Ritsu was about to charge at the guy, he stopped.

"Wait…. Are you the guy form the training game?!" Ritsu's voice was booming with realization.

_Training game? They've met before?_

"(lots and lots of giggles) Yeah, it took you _so _long to figure that out!"

I could hear muffled growls coming from Ritsu before he replied, "Now that you see that we _know _each other, can you please tell us what you're talking about?"

The guy's face became dark, "You really want to know (giggles)?"

Ritsu brushed off the leftover garbage in his hair, "I asked, didn't I? Tell us!"

"(giggle) Well, I won't get anywhere if you don't know anyway. We are looking for our masters."

Len spoke up, "Masters? Why two, and also why would you have to be _searching _for them at a time like this?!"

To my surprise he actually answered. I could hear the confidence in his voice, "My masters don't know their masters, and my guild is one no one has ever heard about (giggles). Even your blasted leader, before now."

Ritsu started to get really aggressive all the sudden, "What the heck do you mean by that?! The leader knows every guild she set into the game! How could she forget about yours?!"

_How does he know if the leader is a he or a she…_

Then the guy got into a fighting stance, "Because we have the power to implant our own guild. (giggles darkly) We have no need of your leader!"

He stared at Ritsu intently, "(soft giggles) You see…" he started to walk towards him, "we're not as human as you think. We're computer viruses (giggle)."

"And our goal is to find the two people who created us, and (giggle) carry out their lethal wish!"


	42. Chapter 41: Betrayal

Chapter 41

Ritsu POV

The blonde guy attacked before I saw it coming.

"Open…" he giggled.

A medium sized hole appeared below me. I shrieked and tensed as I began to fall. I started falling though a blue sky. The blue sky of the world Alice, Aiden, and all the others are from… I could see nothing but water at the bottom.

_I have to get out of this! _

I lit my feet aflame and rocketed to small portal that I came from. I could see that the guy was closing it, very, very slowly.

I pushed even more magic power to my feet to make myself go faster, but every time I got closer to the portal, he would close it faster and faster.

_No! I won't make it! _

I felt my heart race as pushed even more magic power to my legs. But in the end, it wasn't enough.

There was only a tiny bit of portal left. It was no where near enough for me to fit though.

I growled in frustration at both this situation and myself. I was stuck here unless someone opened the portal, and I know that guy isn't going to anytime soon.

I looked down at my feet, still keeping me afloat in the air. _Wait… _Then I looked at my wrists.

They were bare.

_This isn't right… I shouldn't be able to use my magic here…_

Leah made a nullification field around the gates to keep non-native, Fiore people from using their magic in this world. The main reason why is because she's scared that people from our world would come and take this one over, or mess it up. A small magic band, similar to Sensory Link, would appear on your wrist once it's activated, but clearly that's not happening to me.

My sister may be impulsive, but it doesn't mean she a surprisingly good leader.

I sighed in memory; I did have to give her the idea of thinking ahead though._ I_ brought up the nullification idea.

Then I started to let my frustrations over this situation. _How could I be defeated so easily? How? _

_I guess I'm always better if I come up with a plan first…_

Even in the training game, I _struggled _to beat all, no wait, _most _of my friends. I'm sure they were all holding back anyway so we could find Gary… I know Jason and Hono were…

I could feel my bangs covering my eyes.

_I guess I still have a long way to go. _

And now I'm left to do _nothing _while my friends are in the game making things right.

_I can't just give up now…_

I held my head up high and glared at where the portal was. I will make use of this situation.

My eyes narrowed even further in determination. I will come up with the best strategy to beat all of these computer viruses. You just watch.

…..

_With Leah… _

Leah POV

I couldn't help but feel pleasure when I didn't hear the voice or pull of the voice inside my head. I got her good!

I gulped as I ran as fast as I could, fueled by adrenaline. I'm sure the death toll is increasing every second…

_What if I make an announcement?… _

Then a new concern came, _then they will all know I'm the leader… _

This stinks…

Even though I told the voice inside my head that I didn't care that my identity was uncovered… I couldn't help but let my identity dictate how bold I was with sharing this…

I hated this feeling, the feeling of confliction.

Should you do what you know is right or give in to your own desires?…

I sprinted towards High Rise. Alice is as good as anyone with spreading information, and her team is pretty large anyway.

_You'll have to tell them you're the leader…_

_Shut up thoughts… _

With my portal being less than five minutes away from High Rise, I made it there in a matter of seconds with my adrenaline going though the roof. To my luck, Alice was stationed in defense.

She was standing on one of the porches of the guild hall. I screamed her name, "Alice! Alice! Down here!"

Her eyes widened as she turned to look at me, "Leah?! What are you doing here?!"

Then her face got evil all the sudden, "Are you here to attack us?..."

I felt my blood pressure raise even more, "NO! It's not like that! I'm not on anyone's team!"

Alice looked at me skeptically, "Are you sure? The last time I checked you're a member of Fairy Tail, an _external _guild."

I don't have time to deal with this! "It's a long story! I'll explain, but you have to let me inside!"

She crossed her arms and looked away, "I don't believe you."

_You what. _My panic was slowly turning into anger, "You want proof?! Watch this!"

I walked over and stepped where I know one of their traps are. Nothing happened.

Alice stared at me wide eyed, "What the?... Why aren't you on a team?..."

I yelled at her desperately, "Like I said, it's a long story! Just let me come up and explain what's going on!"

Alice sighed, "Fine, but if you do anything suspicious you're dead. "

Normally that would only irritate me a little, but _now_ it horrified me.

I rushed up the rope to their guild hall and we both sat down in the main building.

I looked around. Aiden and Jackson aren't here… I asked, "Are Aiden and Jackson here?"

She shook her head, "They went out on offense, they should be back soon."

I looked at her intently, "I hope so," I reluctantly started to explain the situation.

_So it's actually happening… _

"I think it's about time you know something about me, because the other information I give you won't make any sense if I don't tell you this."

She nodded.

I gulped and continued, "You know the leader that Aiden and Jackson have their hearts set on beating? She's… She's me…"

I sat there waiting for impact.

"YOU CREATED THIS GAME?! NO WAY!" Her voice showed the disbelief that I expected her to have.

"Look…" I said weakly when I let her see my golden guild mark charm on my bracelet, "my guild mark, it's golden and we only have one master."

"No way… So Aiden and Jackson were right about the leader being in Fairy Tail…"

I gulped again and nodded.

She looked at me with shock, but the disbelief was gone, "What does this have to do with… whatever you're trying to tell me?"

I made myself speak normally, "I'm getting to that… I made this game with a series of magic properties I call codes, and a new magic I created called Animate. The system that allows you to come back to life… it's… it's… been cut off by hackers."

Alice started to piece things together, "So… You're saying that everyone we kill now will actually die?!"

I nodded solemnly.

Alice's face changed to sheer horror, "No… That can't be right…"

I interrupted her, "It's the truth…"

"We need to tell everyone!"

I was about to reply, but a voice interrupted me, "I'm surprised. This was actually pretty entertaining."

I looked up to see a young man with brown hair so long that it reached past his shoulders. He was sitting on one of the wood beams that kept the roof supported.

He jumped down and sighed, "To think that _I _am the one who gets to kill you. I'm bored yet excited at the same time."

The words came out without me thinking, "Kill me? What…"

I had no time to respond before I could see a blast of magic power ready to engulf my face. I stood there emotionless. It was like time stopped.

Then I heard Aiden and Jackson's terrified screams, "LEAVE HER ALONE!"

To my surprise, he did.

I looked at Aiden, who was glaring so intensely at the man it actually scared me a little. Jackson's was just as intense…

When the man met Aiden and Jackson's eyes, he immediately got to his knees.

_What the?... _

His voice was very formal all the sudden, "It's nice to finally meet you, my masters."

_Masters?! _

Before Aiden and Jackson could express the confusion on their faces the man said, "I was carrying out your wish of destroying the leader, but you stop me?... How boring is that?"

Aiden seemed both offended and shocked at the same time, "What? Masters? Look, Leah isn't the leader," his expression went dark, "Are you going to tell us the real reason you threatened one of our closest friends or not?"

I couldn't help but let my heart break a little… even in a time like this… He said _friend _instead of _crush_…

The longhaired man seemed confused for a second, but he got his composure back quickly, "You don't remember our creation, don't you? We're the products of the hacking you two tried to do. _Computer viruses._"

_Hacking?! _I refuse to believe it… _There's no way that Aiden and Jackson are the hackers…. _

But much to my horror, Aiden and Jackson looked like they recognized what the guy was saying, "So we created you when we did that?"

The guy nodded as formal as ever.

Alice looked really confused, "Ok… I'm really confused… Aiden, Jackson, Leah _is _the leader you know, and what is all this about hacking? Did you two really try and _hack _this game system?"

I felt the pain of betrayal when I screamed at Aiden and Jackson, "SO IT WAS YOU WHO TWO TRIED TO _HACK _MY GAME?! WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU?!"

But Aiden and Jackson were just as surprised that I was the leader they've been wanting to destroy, "You're the leader Leah?... No… That can't be right…" Jackson's voice was shaking.

I looked away and forced myself to calm down, but the hurt I felt inside crept into my voice, "I am the leader you want to defeat so badly, happy now?"

Aiden looked hurt, "Why didn't you tell us?... You told us nothing!"

I was already on my wits end, "I've _told_ less than five people Aiden! I don't want people to know this!"

Aiden looked even more troubled now, "But… why aren't _we _in this group of people…"

I think he wanted to say _I _instead of _we_, which made my heart skip a beat, but my hurt caused me to ignore it completely, "You wanted to defeat the leader, why _would _I tell you…"

Aiden's expression started to get dark, "Long-haired guy… take me and Jackson to this guild hall of yours… "

Alice had to hold me back, "So you're not going to try and stop this?! What about the lives of all the innocent people you're putting at risk?! AIDEN!"

He glared at me harshly, his hurt clearly seen on his face, "Defeating you wasn't the only reason I hacked the game… I wanted control… One person shouldn't control more than one million people…"

Then the betrayal hit even harder, "So you and Jackson are trying to take over the game?! Answer me!"

But I got nothing in reply, but I almost could have sworn that I saw a tear coming off of Aiden's face as he walked away with the longhaired man right in front of him.


	43. Chapter 42: Iron Will

Chapter 42

Mia POV

_With Mia _

Our fight lasted no longer than five minutes. I laid down on the floor of my own now destroyed airplane unable to move. Sharp pain shot though every nerve of my body if I dared to move. I clinched my teeth and grunted, the quietest way to show my pain.

The extremely skinny "man" was almost the definition of "I'm stronger than I look". He beat me by using some of the most "fearsome" animals in the entire game system, both big and small.

It really hurt my pride.

First he attacked me with a flock of nearby seagulls that I easily managed to fend off. That first attack made me forget that a plane won't drive itself if you never turn on autopilot, so my plane crashed to the ground. I broke out a window and jumped out before it exploded. To be honest, I'm surprised I managed to survive even that. Iron parachutes don't really work…

Of course if I managed to survive, he did too. Once I got myself together again, I came at him with everything I got. I made millions of robots for a gigantic army, thousands of moving war vehicles, a hundred auto controlled airplanes with new explosive weaponry, and even my iron giant. None if it was enough.

Every time one of my attacks came towards him, he would ask a _stupid _question before countering it perfectly.

Arragh! It was annoying!

"What are a bunch of non-living robots going to do against a computer virus?" was what he said before he made the whale from before come out _on land _and ate all my soldiers.

"Are these any different than machines? Aren't they made with just as much malicious intent as I was? Are they any different than me?" was what he said before destroying all my machines. He contradicted himself, but ultimately defeated them with cockroaches that he modified to feast on metal.

"How do airplanes fly? Is it the same way birds do? Can they still escape the bacteria that live in the air?" was what he said before he created an acidic bacteria that floated in the air. It was so powerful that it eroded the planes until they could no longer work. At this point I was starting to loose it.

"How long will your giant hold up? Isn't it made of metal like everything else? Will it be as easy to destroy with the head-butt of a bull as I think it is?" The question itself explains how he defeated my giant… I have no idea where a _bull _was hiding near a dock, but one showed up.

In all my life, an enemy has never left me on the ground hoping for my life. Sure I've faced my dad and Leah many times, but they are family and comrades. I could always find a way to keep going if it is really needed, but now…

I feel completely helpless… I'm out of options…

This realization didn't help when he targeted every attack against my maker magic on my own body. Pain ripped though me when I was covered in acidic bacteria, metal eating cockroaches, head-butted by a bull, and _almost _eaten by a whale. All at the same time, complete torture.

And all I could do was let it happen.

I was chastising myself with my hurt pride.

_No scrawny kid should be able to beat me… _

I tried to rebel, but my body was so injured it wouldn't let me.

_This isn't going to beat me! _

_It can't… _

I could feel myself start to black out.

_Daddy! Daddy!_

I was starting to remember….

_How do you make your iron so strong? _

When I decided I wanted to make iron my maker element…

_Why do you want to know that? _

He looked at me sternly like he always did. My father wasn't one for affection and I knew that.

_I-I just think it's cool that's all…_

I could tell that he knew something was up, but he told me anyway.

_You have to have an iron will. Strong iron isn't just in your magic; it's also in your heart. _

He had a fist on his chest; I could see the passion in his eyes.

I worked on Iron Maker Magic ever since.

My vision was getting blurry… I won't make it much longer…

_I have to try. _

I struggled to get up, but to my surprise.

The skinny man stopped.

"You found the Masters?" it seemed like he was talking to himself, but not.

Then he just ran off. I debated if it was smart to follow him. It was a really tough decision.

_I'll follow him and see what direction he goes. If I run into my friends I'll tell them about the situation. If I don't, I'll keep following him to wherever he's going. _

...

_With Ritsu _

Ritsu POV

I've forgotten how long I've been out here, but I knew I was running out of time.

I was starting to run out of magic power…

My fire jets were getting softer and softer and I could feel my body start to go weak. I could feel sweat start to make its way down my face.

I sighed for the hundredth time. How am I going to get out of this?

The only advantage this situation gave me was to come up with a master strategy.

Too bad I couldn't come up with one.

This was one of those rare situations where I was out of ideas. Even though I did have a strategy for the tournament, it won't work now…

My only option is to see if I can come up with anything after things play out a little more.

Ugh! I hate it when I can't come up with anything!

I kicked at the sky in frustration with my fists clinched.

_I hate it when I can't do anything…_

"What did you do to Ritsu?!" I heard a voice coming from the spot I kicked…

I stared at the spot wide eyed. Am I going insane?...

Then I heard another voice, "What did you do to him?! Where is he?!"

It sounded different from the first one, but I could at least make it out. It sounded like Len.

Ok, I really am going insane….

Then the sounds stopped for a few seconds…

Then a gigantic portal appeared from under me….and I fell…

I really am loosing my mind…

I fell on the ground of the game system to meet the eyes of the person who made me leave in the first place….

That dirty blonde guy….

I glared at him and said sarcastically, "Well, hello there."

He had a grin, but it didn't look satisfied, "You're lucky our masters were found, human (giggle)."

His grin turned evil, "(giggles evilly) Or you would have never seen the light of this game again…"

_Don't get overconfident…_

I got up and glared at him again, but didn't try to attack him. I need to get my thoughts together before acting. I haven't been doing a very good job of that recently…

I felt a magic energy spike behind me, and before I could do anything, Rayna had magic blades, shoriken particularly, and she threw them right at the guy.

In less than a second…

No living thing would have been able to move fast enough, including the guy.

He panicked, "Open!" he didn't even have enough time to giggle.

A portal to who knows where opened and all but one of the shoriken were in another dimension.

It hit him right in the shoulder. Whatever magic was used on that blade caused him to pass out.

All of us stared at Rayna wide eyed. I never knew she could be _this _terrifying….

Even Len had a little fear in her voice, "Since when have you been able to do that?..."

Rayna gave her a "really" look and explained, "I use Blade Magic, something you _should _remember by now, Miss Arson."

Len was very, very offended, "Don't you even dare call me a nickname from my bad habits!"

She put a hand behind her head and picked the guy up by his shirt, "I'm more observant than I look, and I will take any opportunity I can to get ahead on _anything, _not just my enemies."

I was surprised that Rayna didn't attack Len, something's up here.

Len crossed her arms, "What's going on here Rayna? You never back down from an opportunity to fight."

Rayna was unusually serious, "I've been listening carefully to what that guy was saying, and I have reason to believe that all our lives are in serious danger."

Maylon walked over to pick up Kikoe's unconscious body; I guess the blonde guy knocked him out while I was in that other dimension.

Rayna sighed, "I'm going to be questioning this guy once he wakes up, and I'm going to need that crazy blonde guy and the dark green haired girl's help with it."

Everyone was quiet, but it didn't mean I understood what was going on.

Rayna did a small glare at Len; "You all will have to listen to me for now."

I narrowed my eyes. I barely even know her, but for now I'll trust her.

Maylon seemed to know what was going on, "I'll sniff them out. Follow me."

We followed her.


	44. Chapter 43: Little Misfits

Chapter 43

_With Gary, Jason, Julia, Ren, Reo, and the Egg_

Gary POV

We walked for at least fifteen minutes without any sort of major excitement. The only sort of excitement I had to endure was the constant bugging of my _very _bored sister.

It wasn't the good kind of excitement.

"Gaaaarrrryyy…. Julia's bored…. Do something…" she was talking right into my ear, putting all her weight on my shoulder.

My patience was already almost gone, "No, Julia. If you're bored you'll have to deal with it."

The waterworks were already starting, "But… I'm bored….. Julia doesn't want to be bored!"

I could feel my eye twitch with anger as a turned to face her, "Julia. Just. Deal. With. It."

Then I started to take back my words… "JULIA DOESN'T WANT TO BE BORED!"

I could feel the air kicking up around me, and before I knew it there was a thunderstorm that could easily be considered a hurricane appeared.

Jason looked irritated, Ren was terrified, and Reo was screeching at me to get Julia to stop. I growled in frustration. Why does she always do this when she doesn't get what she wants?

"Julia, calm down! I'll help you not be bored, ok?!" In actuality I didn't feel like helping her, but it was the only way she would calm down.

I didn't get any response… Don't tell me the storm is _so _loud that she can't hear me…

Really Julia, really.

I screamed it even louder, "JULIA CALM DOWN! I WILL HELP YOU, OK?!"

She was really starting to destroy things now, I think she's mishearing what I'm saying because of the noise.

Wait. If she keeps doing this, our cover will be blown.

I growled, keeping my composure around her has just gotten a lot harder.

Suddenly, the weather around us started to return to its normal state… and Julia was still in tears…

What the heck?

Ren set down the egg and ran over to Julia, "Are you ok Julia? Everything's alright now!"

Julia's crying was softer now; "Really?" her eyes were sparkling from her tears.

Ren gave her a soft smile, "For now anyway!"

Julia smiled at Ren and gave me a tearful glare, "Why didn't you apologize?!"

Ugh. For a second I thought she forgot about that…. I turned away from her, "I-I already did…"

"Liar! I heard nothing!" She shrieked childishly.

My anger was returning once again, I lied, "I told you I already did Julia! Let it go!"

Jason gave me a look of warning while Reo was mimicking his head getting cut off with one of his fingers with the same look as Jason. I growled loudly.

_Fine! If you want me to apologize, I will! Just watch me! _"Fine! I'm sorry for making you sad Julia!"

I glared at Jason and Reo, who looked relieved, "There! Happy now?"

Reo giggled and Jason gave me a sluggish nod. I growled again and turned away. I stomped away from them in frustration. I can't believe they actually _made _me apologize to her once everything settled down! I don't have to apologize to someone who has a temper tantrum every time she doesn't get what she wants!

She has to learn that crying and throwing temper tantrums won't get you what you want. And Mom and Dad aren't around to teach her that.

I felt their eyes on me, but it only made me growl more and stomp faster. I don't want to be around people right now.

I sat in the nearby grass away from everyone curled up in a ball. My only words were an almost endless series of growls to myself. I flinched when I heard steps coming from behind me.

"Get away from me," I said harshly to whoever is behind me.

I could hear fear in her small voice, "It's… It's Ren… I'm sorry for bothering you Gary… but can you come back over with everyone else? We're worried and Julia feels bad…" Her voice was laced with gentle politeness. I couldn't help but let my guard down a little.

_So Julia feels bad, huh?_

My voice was apologetic now despite the tiny bit of irritation that just went though me, "It's fine Ren. I just don't want to be around anyone right now ok?"

She put a small hand on my shoulder, "No, you need to be with us. We're a team remember? We can't be a team if one of our members is missing."

I turned around. My face was a little flushed from willing myself not to cry, but Ren convinced me to come with her.

Julia gave me a bear hug that I didn't really want when I came back though, "Julia's so sorry Gary! She didn't know she hurt Gary's feelings!"

I couldn't help but hold a little bit of a grudge, "It's fine Julia. Please just let me go." My voice was borderline growl.

Ren whispered to her, "Julia! Calm down he doesn't even want to be here right now."

Julia looked down and let go. It was then that I forgave her. That's how I know she's being sincere.

Reo started to joke now, "Ren's got to be one of the smartest seven year olds in the world if she can convince _you _to do anything Gary!"

Jason giggled, but I could see he was getting quieter and quieter as the day dragged on. He even started to hide again when we were at the hideout.

Just when I thought he was getting more outgoing…

I did a friendly glare at Reo, who started to giggle because of it. Reo elbowed Jason, who gulped before starting to speak, "What guild hall do you guys want to attack first?"

Ren was cradling the egg in her arms again. No one spoke because we all didn't care.

Jason gulped, "How about the Little Misfits then?"

I couldn't help but get a little offended, "The Little Misfits? Isn't that the guild of seven year olds? It's literally child's play!"

Ren sunk down in her seat a little and I felt bad for shaming seven year olds in front of her.

Reo gave me a serious look, "They may be a guild of seven year olds, but they can hold their own. I've heard one of their S-Class wizards can use a magic that allows her to screech so loud that you could easily pass out not to mention loose your hearing."

Jason backed him up before I could say anything, "Their guild master is a mystery, but I've heard he's deaf," Jason giggled, "Every time the guild gets too rowdy, he tells the girl to screech so they would all calm down. It's not like he can hear it!"

I turned away, but I couldn't stop a giggle from escaping. That is pretty funny…

"I think it's settled then! Let's go to Little Misfits!" Julia was back in her optimistic mood.

I'm not complaining.

With that we started our short walk to the Little Misfits' guild hall.

…

The walk to the Little Misfits' guild hall was no less annoying than the walk we had before it. Julia was continuing to bombard me with pleas of boredom, Ren happily cradled the egg, Jason and Reo were talking about something unimportant, and I was glaring at my sister to try and get her to stop.

Honestly the only exciting thing was the two people we ran into.

It was that crazy blonde guy and that Amber girl from the hideout. They were walking past us. Amber looked like she wanted to tear him to shreds with just her words.

Not like I could understand them.

They were both speaking in some sort of foreign language that I've never heard of before. Reo stopped once he heard them. It was like he was trying to listen.

" _Yoursk skwrwleti aer tysirulsie"_

_"ghaiet Leah uneisdkea Avodgui?"_

_"gyudi…" _

All I could make out was Leah's name. I walked over and nudged Reo on the arm, "Can you understand them?"

Reo nodded, his eyes wide. After a second he shook his head, like he thought he was going crazy.

_How can you understand them?_

I asked him the obvious question, "What are they saying?"

Reo looked troubled, "I'm not sure if I'm hearing them right… but they're talking about Leah and this place called Avalon…."

Ren spoke up, "Avalon's a place from a fairy story that Mom told me before! It's where they fairies live!"

"Where the fairies live?" Everyone but Ren said in unison.

Ren started to get shy, "That's all I know…. I don't know if that's what they're talking about… I just wanted to say…."

Reo smiled at Ren, "You're fine, it's good information at least. There's no need to be so shy."

I could see the uncomfortable look on Jason's face once Reo said that. I laughed and Reo did his father's signature "gihi", something he only does if he finds something extremely funny.

I usually get weirded out by it with Reo looking like a male version of Levy with his spiky, blue hair, but I don't care right now! Jason's face is _so_ deserving of it.

"J-just shut up guys! Don't make me hurt you!" Jason sounded a little childish, but we shut up once we heard him.

Jason can be as terrifying as his mother if he's pushed to it…

Within a minute after we ran into the blonde guy and Amber, we were at the Little Misfits' guild hall.

The guild hall was like a life sized doll house, half made of LEGOs, half made of ordinary materials. It was so quiet that I could hear the eco of our footsteps.

I felt excitement coarse though me, "Let's get down to business…"

I heard a rock fall in the distance. I turned around in its direction instinctually and saw nothing but a colorful looking tree with a vine growing on it. My guard was up.

Then something happened. The S-Class girl Jason mentioned earlier appeared out of no where and started screeching at the top of her lungs.

She really lives up to her reputation.

My ears were in so much pain I could barely even feel them. Everyone else were in their own state of agony while almost all the members stared to gang up on us with their simple magic.

Water Magic, Fire Magic, Earth Magic, Air Magic, Teleportation Magic, Speed Magic, and most other abilities you would see in a classic kids movie were what they used.

I struggled to move my hand and make a Plant Magic circle appear. I made a nearby vine growing on the tree near her come up and cover her mouth, forcing her magic to stop. I could hear her mumbles against the vine from here.

I rebelled against my attackers, "Ice Make Piranha"

A gigantic piranha appeared bellow my attackers and was fixing to eat them, but I heard a screech from someone nearby, "NO DON'T! STOP FIGHING!"

It was that Maylon girl who was on the same team as Ritsu and Hono. I stopped my attack in reaction to her words, but confusion dominated my own, "What? Why?"

"Get over here, you idiots!" Amber ran right behind her.

I listened once I heard Amber. She looks like she could murder some of us…

Everyone else listened without much rebellion. The blonde guy put up a barrier over all of us so we wouldn't be harmed by the hordes of children trying to kill us.

It's easy to forget that Little Misfits won the Biggest Guild award this year…

I asked them irritably, "What's going on? Why'd you interrupt our fight?"

Ritsu spoke now, "It's a long story, but we needed to keep you guys from killing anyone. The game isn't in its normal state right now…"

I looked down at Rayna's hands and saw that she was carrying the dirty blonde guy from the training game, "What's he doing with you?"

The dirty blonde guy was starting to stir. Rayna avoided my question and asked the blonde guy, "Keep him from using his abilities, if you can."

_Keep him from using his abilities? What kind of magic does this guy have?_

The blonde guy nodded and a few seconds later the dirty blonde guy woke up, clearly shocked to be here, "WHAT THE HECK AM I DOING HERE (shocked giggles)?!"

Rayna had a hand on his forehead with an intimidating look that resembled Erza's when she's mad at Natsu and Gray, "You _will_ answer all my questions and you _will _answer them honestly. Unless you want to die right here and now."

We all stared at Rayna wide eyed. I never thought she could be _that _threatening.

I looked behind me; I have the feeling someone's watching us.

* * *

Disclaimer: I don't own LEGOS


	45. Chapter 44: Shizuka

Chapter 44

Ritsu POV

I couldn't help but glare at the dirty blonde guy Rayna was threatening. _He _was the one who put me in another dimension for who knows how long…

I looked down and refused to meet him in the eye.

The dirty blonde guy returned Rayna's fierce expression with a smirk, "(giggle) What makes you think I would tell you anything? You don't scare me."

Len nudged me in the arm and whispered, "Rayna can get _really _fierce when she doesn't get what she want… Trust me I know…."

I nodded still looking down.

Rayna's faced managed to darken even more, "Well then, what are your last words then?"

Rayna took a couple of blades out of her pocket that had a capsule in the middle filled with some purple liquid. I could only guess what it was.

"_Poison…." _I heard Len gasp.

The dirty blonde guy glanced to the side and then giggled a little to himself. Just as Rayna was about to throw her blades, the guy put his hands up.

"Easy there, lady! (giggles) I'll tell you everything, okay? (light giggles)"

"You better not lie…" Rayna said darkly before letting him speak.

"Why would I? Telling you our plans only makes our victory even sweeter… (giggles darkly)"

"Get on with it." Rayna interrupted him a lock of pitch-black hair falling into her eyes.

"(giggles) As I've said before, we are not from either of your worlds. We are a well-known type of being that exists only in technology that's been hacked… (giggles), we only have a human form in this one because it's the nature of the system…" The dirty blonde guy continued to smirk.

I flinched. _Hacked? _

"We are computer viruses with the sole purpose of destroying the leader of the game system. We carry out the orders of our masters who created us. (giggles darkly) but it can't be helped that we destroy the entire game along with the leader, it's the purpose of any computer virus no matter what their orders are…"

I forced myself to stay still, but I couldn't help but shake with anger. _They want to kill my sister and everyone else in the game?... Who are these masters of theirs…._

I could feel Len watching me. I flinched uncomfortably.

"We infected your game with our own codes that give us control of the game. Each of us has our own section. (giggles)"

"(giggles) In simpler terms, our 'magic' is controlling our aspect of the game. (giggles) This also includes the Death Setting…."

_You don't mean…._

Now my shaking wasn't only caused by anger, but pure disgust too.

He stood with Rayna responding with a blade, "My section happens to be the portal system…." He glared at the blonde guy, "your magic can't save you from this (giggle)."

Rayna threw her blades in an instant, but it wasn't fast enough. The dirty blonde guy had already opened a huge portal underneath all of us.

I felt myself fall.

_I'm not going to let this happen again!_

"Arrragh!" I heard Julia grunt as she desperately held onto the end of the portal for dear life. One hand was on the edge of the portal while Gary was on the tip of her other hand.

"You won't trap Julia and her friends!" She started to lug herself out of the portal, but she started to lag back because of Gary.

"Let me go Julia! Save yourself!" Gary screamed at her, grunting with the pain of hanging.

"I… I can't do that!" Julia's voice was shaking.

"Julia if you ever listen to me once, listen now! _Please_! Just do it!"

"B-but…"

"JUST DO IT!"

"FINE!"

I stared up wide eyed as she let Gary go. I started to push blue fire out of my feet; I was too low on magic power to completely polarize it.

_I have to save everyone while I have the chance!_

I power was fading fast. I grabbed Gary while he was falling. He looked up at my face,

"Whoa! What's wrong with your face?!"

I was sweating from the lack of magic power, and I'm sure that I was getting pale by now. My vision was getting blurry.

"I-I can't hold on much longer…" My voice was growing soft.

I dipped down to grab Len and Rayna, but my time was up.

I was out of magic power….

I felt myself fall again.

"Oh come on, Ritsu! Don't give out on us now!"

I could hear a voice with my sensitive ears…

"You sure took your sweet time Shizuka (giggle)."

There was a pause.

"Ahh still not talking to anyone unless asked to by authority, eh? (giggles)"

Another pause.

Gray screamed below me, "Ice Make Vine!"

A vine of ice came out of his hands and reached all the way to the top of the portal, which was a distance away now. Gary screamed to Julia, "Climb up the vine and jump out Julia! I can't keep this up for long!"

I would never know if Julia actually listened or not because I passed out once I hit a hard floor.

…..

Julia POV

I watched helplessly as I saw the portal start to close. There are tears in my eyes.

"J-Julia's friends… are gone…"

"One of you managed to escape?.. (dark giggles)"

I turned to see the dirty blonde guy and a new girl with snow-white hair that reached her shoulders. I looked at them wide eyed my crying temporarily stopped.

Julia's scared….

Way to scared to speak…

"Wow, I never imagined I'd make one of you cry so fast. (happy giggles)" The dirty blonde guy tried to cover his smile while turning away.

My left over tears fell off my face while I felt my desperation start to skyrocket.

_ What did he do to my friends?! _

My voice shook a little, "What did you do to my friends?!"

He smirked at me, "I only sent them to the dimension with a hallway of endless rooms. Every room leads to a horrible death but one that will lead them to our hideout. (giggles) It certainly makes things more interesting…"

_Horrible death?..._

"B-Bring them back!" The tears were starting again.

"(giggle) Why would I do that? I would ruin all my handiwork!"

"Bring them back!"

"(more giggles) Sorry, no can do lady."

"BRING THEM BACK!"

At that point, I unleashed all the pent up frustrations I had on the sky, making it turn black with storm clouds.

_Maybe if they see Julia's feelings they'll bring them back…_

My storm was starting to rage, and I couldn't hear anything.

But thirty seconds later it stopped.

And I had nothing to do with it…

I only stopped my crying to stare at the white-haired girl wide eyed.

The dirty-blonde guy giggled evilly, "I'll just let you guess what Shizuka controls… (giggle)"

It felt like a bomb went off inside me once I realized what she controlled…

She controls the weather of the game…

_I think she's the reason my weather manipulation didn't work earlier either… _

"Do you see it now, lady? (giggle) Any sort of weather you do will be pointless against her (more giggles)."

I was shaking with fear….

The dirty blonde guy glanced at Shizuka, "To make things more entertaining, I'm going to let you have her all to yourself Shizuka."

Shizuka gave the dirty blonde guy a questioning look. I could feel her judging his intelligence just by looking at her.

You could actually tell a lot of things about her just by looking at her…

She looked ridged, yet uncaring

She is quiet, but her looks are louder than words

She acts like a subordinate, but I feel an air of authority.

This fascinates Julia…

A punch to the head snapped me out of my thoughts.

Pain shot though me head, and I looked up to see the glaring white-haired woman above me.

Though she said no words I could tell she was saying,

_If you want your friends back alive, you'll need to beat me. _


	46. Chapter 45: Hall of Infinite Rooms

Chapter 45

_In the other dimension _

Ritsu POV

I woke up laying flat on my back with a persistent headache. It felt like my body was made out of lead. Any ounce of energy I had before was gone.

I'm completely out of magic power…

I heard footsteps coming towards me, "Ritsu it's time to get up."

It was Gary's voice. I cringed as I tried to get up.

I asked the first question that came to my head, "Where are we?"

Gary sighed, "See for yourself."

Trying to get up only made my body more heavy and numb, "I don't think I can…"

Gary grabbed my hand and pulled me up forcefully, "This is no time for you to be lazy Ritsu."

_I'm not being lazy! I'm out of magic power! What do you expect?!_

I grunted and ignored my anger. I took a look at my surroundings.

We were in some hallway made up of a seemingly endless number of rooms and walls that were made up of some kind of purple substance you'd see in a science fiction movie. The hallway was only lit by light orbs that were levitating just above the ceiling.

_How did we get here anyway?_

I stood half spacing out while I tried to remember.

Then it came to me.

_That dirty blonde guy…_

I just exploded, "WHAT THE HECK?! HOW DID THIS HAPPEN TO ME _AGAIN?"_

I shivered in anger.

_How could I be so unbelievably stupid?! _

_ He did this to me twice in a row! What kind of wizard am I?!_

I think Gary caught on to my silent rage, but he didn't do anything about it.

I heard Reo ask, "Where's Jason? He _did _come down with us right?"

Gary sighed, "Who knows. He's gone back into his hiding habits again," he crossed his arms, "and I thought he was starting to be more outgoing…"

Reo sighed, "He's probably off hiding somewhere in this dimension…."

Then everyone else sighed. I will never completely understand how Jason can be the leader of the group one minute to one of the shyest people I know the next…

Amber sighed again after looking around the hall, "This is an issue…"

Ren was holding on to the egg tightly, I could see tears in her eyes and fear on her face. I felt bad for her. I never really understood how scary this is for a seven year old.

But I know she'll be strong.

"What's the issue?" Maylon asked with her hands on her hips.

Maylon's eyes were so dark that they almost looked black.

I have a bad feeling….

Amber looked at her sharply, "This is a dimension of endless rooms… Every one has the potential to kill us but one. That one door is our only way out of here."

I looked at her skeptically, "How do you know this?..."

Amber sighed again, "Not that you idiots wouldn't understand it. I don't _want _to explain why. Is that too much to ask?"

I stepped back a little offended, "Well… Do you expect us not to ask?"

Amber glared at me but she didn't answer.

Makio hit Maylon lightly on the arm and whispered something to her. He looked concerned.

I looked at Maylon's eyes again. There's something about them that I don't like…

The blonde guy looked around, "I have an idea that might get us out of here alive," I could almost hear fear in his voice, "you'll have to trust me."

Gary looked at him skeptically, "Is the reason why you're not telling us the idea the same as Amber?"

I could almost see the sweat on him.

He nodded.

Gary was getting very forward now, "Actually, we still don't know your name, do we? Since you're helping us, I think it's about time that we know."

The blonde guy looked very troubled now, "It's… not important. Let's just go."

Gary questioned him again, "You sure? What kind of guy keeps his name a secret?"

Amber glared at Gary harshly, "Let it go, you idiot…"

Amber's words shut Gary up right there. It was almost freaky how… authoritative… Amber is at times…

But these two give me a bad feeling too…

I sighed, "Let's just trust them, okay? Is there any better ideas?"

_It's not like I'm good enough to come up with any anyway…_

I think everyone got my point because there were no objections.

When we started walking, I had the feeling that we were missing someone…

Then Reo pointed it out, "Hey guys…. Where's Hono?"

We all stopped and looked around. Hono wasn't here…

Actually I haven't heard a single word from him since we met Kikoe…

Then I realized that Hono went off somewhere on his own, "I think Hono snuck off when Maylon met Kikoe…"

Then everyone else's eyes widened with the realization, "Whoa! You're right!" Ren said loudly from her place next to Reo.

I think everyone else wanted to say the same thing, but kept their words to themselves… I know I did…

I was starting to feel a dark aura coming from behind me. I slowly looked behind me with Maylon holding onto one of the doors. Her expression looked dark. Her eyes were almost completely pitch black with a hint of purple…

_That's not the right door…_

Makio ran towards her in a panic, "Maylon! Don't! Please don't tell me your instincts have kicked in already!"

Maylon looked down with her hair covering her eyes. She started to pull on the door.

"Don't Maylon!"

She pulled more.

"DON'T!"

Then she opened it completely and the hallway was filled with darkness.

…

_In the game…_

Julia POV

Shizuka stood over me with a harsh glare that told me I was to do battle.

But… But… Julia doesn't want to!

I started to cry again, hoping to work up enough of a tantrum to create a thunderstorm.

She punched me in the face again.

I got up quickly and started screaming at her, "Quit! I don't want to fight you!"

She punched me in the face again.

I clinched my cheek that was in so much pain that I thought it could be broken. I glared at her and my crying intensified.

_Julia doesn't want to do this. _

_ Julia only likes to fight for fun._

_ Julia doesn't want to fight to the death…_

_ Julia doesn't want it…_

Eventually I was crying so hard that I managed to create another thunderstorm. It only worked for a second before Shizuka stared at it blankly and stopped it.

I shook with fear as I watched her coming towards me again. What am I going to do without Weather Manipulation?

I only had one advantage. I could use two other kinds of magic.

But I can't use two different kinds of magic at once. I never have been able to.

If I use Ice Make or Water Magic, she can use her powers.

_Why does Julia have to do this?! Julia doesn't want to do this!_

The tears never stopped flowing from my eyes when I attacked her, "Ice Make Hail Storm!"

A hailstorm made of ice appeared above us and started hailing hail the size of golf balls. The computer virus shielded herself, but easily created an actual thunderstorm above it. She controlled the lighting inside the storm to cause the hail I created to electrify.

She controlled the lightning so it would only affect the hail on my side. It felt like I was constantly being shocked over and over again.

It hurt like crazy, and I couldn't feel anything when I finally stopped my attack.

I was tucked into a ball shocking still from the lightning. It was very hard to breathe much less move.

And yet tears were still falling from my face.

They were only making the shocks worse.

_No matter how much Julia cries nothing is happening… _

My body was rebelling against me with every movement, but I still managed to stand.

With every step Shizuka took, it shook the ground. I knew from my own habits that she was about to start an earthquake.

I tried to move but my body wouldn't let me. My tears of desperation turned into tears of pain every time I actually managed to move my legs forward. The quakes became stronger once she was a few feet away from me.

When she was right in front of me, the quakes were constant without behind held back by her steps. My legs gave out eventually.

"Ahhh!" I screamed as I fell clumsily.

With all the strength of an earthquake, the computer virus stomped on my chest. It caused the surrounding land to rustle and for me to only let out a breath of pain.

_When will she stop?... No matter how much Julia cries… It won't stop… _

_ She will never stop, Julia. _

_ No matter how much you cry, it won't stop the pain you're feeling right now. _

_ Your tears will do nothing in a fight. _

Gary's words echoed in my ears, _"I'm not going to apologize to someone who throws a tantrum every time she doesn't get what she wants!" _

_ Julia realizes this now. _

I put my arm up and blocked her foot. My voice shuddered with pain and emotion, "Ice Make… Tornado!"

She was enveloped in a small tornado made from my ice, her face showing surprise.

I sat up, my legs temporarily paralyzed from the lightning. I used my arms to push myself upward without the help of my legs. It was almost as painful as getting kicked in the chest.

I looked at her with a crazy look in my eyes, "For the sake of Julia's friends, Julia will fight you without holding back. Her emotions will not stop her now, they will push her forward. She's not crying anymore."


	47. Chapter 46: The Power of Love

Chapter 46

_In the other dimension… _

Ritsu POV

I watched in horror as darkness started to fill the room. I screamed, "What the heck is going on?!"

It got so dark to the point that I couldn't see. I could only hear Makio's desperate voice, "Get ready! She's relying on Darkness and Shadow Dragon instincts! The dimension is using her powers against us!"

_Darkness and Shadow Dragon instincts… _I felt fear envelop me, "Does that mean she's evil now?!"

I heard Amber's voice now, "Yes, you idiot! She evil _and _shady now!"

I heard a whimper from Ren, "So Maylon is evil now?..."

She was right beside me. I got down, picked her up, and forcibly took the egg out of her hands, "Give me the egg back, Ritsu!"

"Shhh Ren! I need to get you to safety if that exists!" My voice was panicked.

"Let me go Ritsu! I can fight too! I'm not just a little kid!"

_I can't let you get hurt, _"Please Ren! Go to a safe place if you can! I can't risk you getting hurt!"

Then I head some of the most intense anger I've ever heard from Ren in my life, "I'm not a little kid anymore! I can take care of myself! I can _use _magic!"

I bit my lip, "Ren… I'm sorry, but you're still a little kid…."

I could hear her sobbing a little now, "But that doesn't mean you can't be strong…."

After that I left her to fend for herself. I felt a little guilty. She's the youngest, so we tend to baby her a little.

All I heard was a small gasp before I had to focus in on my own safety.

I felt a presence above me. I instinctually tried to light a fire in my hand, but nothing happened…

Despite all that's happened, I'm still out of magic power…

_Darn that dirty blonde computer virus… _

It was only now did I realize that I had a small adrenaline rush while I was trying to save Ren. My dizziness, lack of coordination, and tiredness was starting to return. I'll faint soon if I don't do something…

"Darkness Dragon Talon…"

I felt a kick full of darkness magic come down on my skull. I felt a dull pain flow down my entire body. It was only getting duller as my dizziness increased.

I really was starting to pass out again.

_This is so pathetic…_

"Ritsu!" was all that I heard before I heard the swipe of a sword.

_Jason…_

I felt Jason put me on his shoulders, "You need medical help Ritsu."

I barely managed to speak, "W-where were y-you?"

Jason sighed, "I was in the door Maylon opened."

_How?_

Jason continued before I could say anything in reply, "That particular door wouldn't cause death to any one person who entered it. All it contained was darkness to manipulate Maylon's magic. Its purpose was to make her want to kill us… That's the danger…"

"I see… So that's why she chose that door… The dimension was already getting to her…" I was getting to the point where speaking was almost impossible.

_Also you helping us was pure coincidence. _

I could feel another body near me, "Is that Kikoe on your other shoulder?"

Jason did a quiet "uhuh", "Rayna just dropped him once the fighting started… We can't just leave him there…"

Jason tensed, "Hold on!"

A bright magic circle appeared in his hands, "Requip! Light Sword!"

Jason had to shrug Kikoe and me off his shoulders in order to fight correctly. It's not like I felt anything. I was already pretty numb.

He whispered an apology before fighting.

All I could see were swipes of light and the very visible form of his light sword. It looked exactly like a medieval sword except made completely made from light. I couldn't help but admire it.

But it wasn't doing much against Maylon….

The dimension's darkness seemed to be boosting her magic power by the second, while ours was wasting away as we fought. This is bad…

_She must be "eating" it in some way…._

_And once again I can do nothing…_

I could only hear screams at this point and I could see the blurs of Ramon's blades, Ramon's sword, Ren's wind, and a little of Amber and that blonde guy's power…

"Everyone!" It was faint but I knew it was Makio's voice, "I need you to use as much light at once as you can! It's the only way we can beat her with this much darkness!"

"How do you know that will work?!" It was Gary.

Everything managed to get even fuzzier…

"I'll explain once we're out of here! Just trust me for now!"

Then light enveloped my clouded vision at once.

But I could see something holding us back.

…

_With Julia _

Julia POV

I gulped as I prepared to follow through with my words. My emotions will not hold me back; they will push me forward.

I just have to will myself to believe it.

Shizuka looked at me blankly, taking no reaction form my words.

I limped after her, my legs still partly paralyzed, "Ice Make Earthquake!"

I forced myself to fall and jam my hands into the ground. The earth shook and opened with a large crack with a valley of glaciers below where Shizuka was standing.

Her face was still devoid of emotion….

She calmly sighed and started to close up the earth with her own powers.

_Julia feels fear again…_

I wanted to cry again. I could feel the tears coming, but I had to blink them back.

It was hard….

_Julia doesn't like it…_

The computer virus put her hand in the air and I could feel the wind start to circle around it. I could almost see pride on her blank stare.

My stance was starting to give way again. My legs felt like jelly. I tried in vain to balance myself using my arms. But I didn't have enough time to do both that and dodge her attack.

She aimed her arm directly at me and the tornado surrounding her arms was starting to envelop me. I couldn't keep myself planted in the ground.

"Ahhh!" I screamed as I felt myself being spun a thousand times.

I was painfully caught inside her arm tornado and once she condensed it enough, she threw me against our barrier, which had the consistency of an average wall…

I grunted with the little voice I have left. I knew at this point that I had less than half my magic power left…

Julia's running out of ideas….

Shizuka walked over with an air of superiority, like the battle was already won and she was just having fun.

I let myself cry at this point. _Are my emotions making me weak? Julia's never have to come up with battle strategies…_

Clouds appeared around her whole body and she grew several feet due to dark, storm clouds appearing under her feet. Eventually she turned herself to a monster made out of storms. I could see the lighting surging though them.

The blue in her eyes started to spread throughout her whole eye till there was nothing but solid blue. Strings of clouds on the inside of the monster started to connect to Shizuka's body…

_Is this her true form? Julia is curious. _

I glanced at my hands. I had only one more option to win, and it caused me to use a magic that has been difficult for me for years…

I'll have to use Water Magic…

There's a reason why Julia has never used her Water Magic in a battle. She's never been able to pull of a single spell correctly…

Because it would never respond to Julia's emotions…

It would work for Mother and Gary, but not me. Emotional transfer went into my Ice Make Magic instead….

_I don't think it's even possible for me to use…_

Suddenly, I smelled something similar to pollen. Whatever it was, it was starting to make me see visions. I saw my friends fighting in the other dimension.

_These are your friends. They have to fight one of their own clad in darkness. Without their light they will die. I am blocking their exit. They'll all run out of magic power eventually._

_ Julia feels anger. _

_ No, Julia feels rage. _

"Ice… Make… Blizzard!" I glared at the monstrous computer virus with the most crazy, insane glare Julia was capable of glaring.

Immediately, the surrounding area was covered in snow and ice. So thick that no one could see.

Even a computer virus.

_All throughout this fight…_

_ Julia has forgotten the real reason she's fighting. _

_ Julia is fighting for the lives of others, _

_ And her anger will push her forward. _

I pushed my hands out in front of me placing them evenly distanced from each other horizontally.

_For the sake of saving other's lives and the lives of her friends. _

_ With help from above. _

_ Julia can do what she thought was impossible. _

"Water Blast!" All of my blizzard's ice condensed into a tightly packed blast of water aimed directly at Shizuka before she could stop my blizzard.

But she still looked calm.

Lighting surged throughout my attack and started to shock me again. She was condensing her own lightning into a blast. The pain her lightning was bringing felt worse than anything I've ever experienced.

I could barely keep my arms out.

But I pushed myself forward even more, almost finding a new power in myself.

_I'm actually using Water Magic with my emotions… I'm actually doing it. _

My voice was laced tightly with my pain, "You'll… never… beat… Julia… if you can't use the power emotion gives you…"

She pushed me back again, but I pushed against her again.

I didn't know if she could hear me, but I continued anyway, "Emotion, love, can give you passion that will push you forward despite the odds… There is little power if any, in this world that can overwhelm it."

_It is impossible to overwhelm Love… _

"And Julia… Is going to use her own to defeat you!"

With a final scream, I pushed past my limits and used all my magic power and beyond overwhelming the computer virus. Her lighting spread to my attack and she was defeated by her own attack.

Even when she disappeared, her face always had a blank stare.

My legs gave out from under me. My whole body was temporally sparking and paralyzed this time, but I didn't need to move.

Because a giant beam of light from where Shizuka was standing opened, revealing my friends with a seemingly unconscious and shaking Maylon.


	48. Chapter 47: The Glitching Land

A.N. It's been a while since I first started this. I'd just like to let you guys know that I really appreciate all of the support! It means a lot! I have a lot more coming! :D

* * *

Chapter 47

Julia POV

_Everyone…._

Nothing could wipe the tired smile from my face as they ran over to me. I had a light laugh.

Gary was first in line, "Julia! What happened to you?!"

I gasped to him, "Julia… Beat… Shizuka…."

Gary didn't really comprehend who "Shizuka" is, "Huh? You mean that white-haired computer virus?"

I barely managed to speak, "Yeah…."

Gary scratched his head and put me around his shoulders, "As much as I hate admitting this to my own sister," he growled, "You did good."

Then everyone else came and tacked Gary and me with hugs.

Well everyone but Ritsu, Maylon, and Kikoe who were unconscious…

"Julia! I'm so happy you're ok!" Ren had a few scratches herself.

Gary was being trampled on and quickly loosing his patience, "WOULD YOU ALL GET OFF OF ME?!"

No one did, so he just pushed everyone off to the best of his ability.

We all just laughed at him and Reo teased him, "Ohh? Is our _little _Gary annoyed with our affection?"

Gary screamed at him with a light blush, "No way in heck! Stop laughing at me!"

He just gave Reo so many opportunities, "Oh? So you're admitting you like our affection?"

Gary's face was beat red now, "JUST SHUT UP REO!"

Like usual, Gary ended up stomping away to sulk to himself. I looked at Maylon.

She was shaking a lot…

Ritsu was starting to regain consciousness, "What happened?..."

Len started to explain, "We're out of the hallway now; you just passed out due to lack of magic power."

Rayna glanced at her, "Since when did you become so sympathetic?"

Len wasted no time getting in her face, "I've always been sympathetic!"

Rayna rolled her eyes, "Pssh! I haven't seen any, and what's with you and this child?! You've been giving him way too much attention!"

Len gritted her teeth, "He's a _child, _and he asked what happened! I'm just telling him!"

Rayna was screaming at this point, "Like that explains anything!"

Len and Rayna were in a fistfight now. Just like Dad and Natsu….

Makio, who is carrying Maylon bridal style, sighed and began to explain Maylon's condition, "I did promise I would explain my reasons for using light to defeat her, so here goes."

He sat down and set the shaking Maylon on his lap. Gary sat me next to him. Jason had Kikoe next to him. Everyone else sat around him.

It's weird to see him this serious.

"Adaption type Dragon Slayer Magic develops with the user. Other types of magic do this too, but it's rare. I'm sure Maylon has mentioned this to at least some of you by now, but her adaption systems aren't fully developed yet. They're close, it only takes ten years for them to fully develop."

He looked down at Maylon with a concerned look, "Because of this, if she changes elements too fast, she'll have health consequences. Light causes her to have seizures.

Ren raised her hand slowly, watching Maylon shake, "So she's having a seizure right now?..."

Makio nodded, "I couldn't think of anything else to do… I don't know how to get her out of it either…"

He sighed, "It's just not as fun not being able to bother her…"

There was a silence until I heard Ritsu groan, "We… need to get my sister…."

Rayna and Len stopped their fight for a second, "Why?" Rayna asked.

Ritsu managed to sit up, "We can't defeat them if we're this low on magic power… My sister can fix that."

Rayna walked over to him and looked at him straight in the eyes, "How?"

_I can tell just by looking at Rayna's face that she's suspicious of Ritsu for some reason…_

Ritsu uncomfortably looked away, "I'll get her to explain once we find her."

With all the injured (including Julia) being carried by another person, we all started to search for Leah, but we didn't get very far without Amber screaming at us.

She had a hand up, "Stop walking! Hold on a minute!"

She bent down and looked like she was reading the blank ground. It was weird…

She glanced at the blonde guy and eventually all of us, "This is a teleportation circle…"

_Teleportation circle?_

Then I remembered what that dirty blonde computer virus said before we were trapped.

_If you find the correct door it will lead you to our hideout. _

I guess it works if you get out period.

We were all thrown up in the air as the teleportation circle started to activate.

_It's really delayed.. _

The blonde guy was freaking out, "First my fear of the dark! Now my fear of heights?! WHAT'S WITH THIS TOURNAMENT?!"

Amber snapped at him immediately, "Would you just be a man and just _deal _with it, you idiot?!"

As the name "teleportation circle" implies, we were teleported to the computer viruses' hideout.

_Julia hopes we can find Leah in time… _

_….._

_Finally back with Leah, _

I've never felt as much sheer anger as I did when I saw Aiden and Jackson walk away. I clenched my fists and looked Alice right in the eyes, my voice was dark and low, "We have to stop them. Now."

Alice was starting to cry a little, "I have no idea what just happened…"

For the first time in awhile, I could feel tears coming from my own eyes, "They're evil now Alice! Don't you get it?!"

I couldn't help but feel the pain of my betrayal. I actually managed to _trust _those two for once and this is the thanks I get!

_Or at least I think I did…_

I couldn't help my crush get in the way too, _and I even had the audacity to like him…_

I blinked away the tears from my eyes and grabbed Alice's wrist, surprising her, "We need to find their hideout. Any idea where it is?"

Alice didn't respond to my question, but asked one of her own, "Why don't you just tell everyone about the situation?"

I stepped back a little offended. This is not the time to ask that!

"I… I don't want to tell you!"

Alice seemed angry, "So, you're sacrificing the lives of at least a couple million people for some _selfish_ reason? I'm starting to see why Aiden and Jackson betrayed you."

My mind could barely comprehend what she was saying, I almost choked, "What?"

Alice shook her head and didn't say anything about it, "N-never mind…"

_I still heard every word you just said, and it hurts like heck! _

I could feel more tears coming, _why is everyone here betraying me?..._

At the worst possible time, the voice inside my head decided to appear,

_So you don't have the courage spoil your secret to the world, do you? _

Everyone just wants to offend me today huh, _Shut up! _

_ You clearly don't. _

_ Just shut up! _

_ I'm starting to question the reason I chose you in the first place…_

_ Chose me? Chose me for what?! Answer me!_

Her grandmother intervened and that was the last of the conversation, _Stop talking you naughty child! She's been though enough, and you're going too far like you always do! _

I was actually starting to cry at this point, and Alice was starting to notice,

"Leah… Are you ok?"

I shook my head; forcing the tears to go away and dragged her away with my bangs covering my eyes saying nothing.

My voice was a little shaky, "I'm pretty sure I know where they're hiding even though I asked earlier. It's where we saw that malfunctioning part of town earlier."

I could tell in her voice that she felt bad about earlier, "Oh… Let's just go there then."

I had little sympathy in me right now.

I ignored her tone of voice, "I can activate a teleportation circle under us to get us there in no time, but you need to tell your other guild mates not to kill anyone else. Can you do that? I can take care of myself."

I knew she would take no time in refusing, "No way! You need my help!"

I'm way too angry not to be harsh, "I don't! Please just do what I say Alice! Please!"

I could see tears out of the corner of my eye, but she looked down and followed my instructions.

_Thank you, Alice. _

I took no time making a teleportation circle to bring me directly to the hideout once she was out of sight.

With all the rage inside of me I made this vow,

_Aiden, Jackson, you will be defeated by the leader you betrayed. You have no hope of winning now, that's for certain. _

…..

_With Mia _

It took every bone in my body not to kill every one of the weaklings that I came across trying to find this _stupid, dumb _hideout of these _villains _we're facing.

Let's just say they're wasn't a single moment where I wasn't growling.

Also, I'm very low on magic power due to my fight with that tall guy.

Oh and I can't wait for revenge once I get my hands on him; _he has what's coming to him. _

But it's kind sad that he's right in my eyesight, because I'm following him.

It took about thirty minutes for him, to _slowly _walk to one of the most obvious spots for a hideout, the glitching piece of land that we saw earlier.

I was about to go inside the hideout before Leah decided to teleport on top of me,

"Watch where you're landing you blonde idiot!"

She looked like she wasn't taking crap from anyone right now though… "Do you think I can help where I land, you black haired stalker?!"

Not that I care.

We were easily in each other's faces now, "How am I a stalker?!"

As much as I hate to admit it, this is letting me vent a little…

Our foreheads are touching as we tried to push each other away, "You were following some guy! How is that not stalking?!"

I snapped even more, "He's the _enemy _you stupid…"

Leah had a vein popping out of her forehead now, "Enemy or not it's still stalking, and what were you about to call me just now?..."

We were half wrestling at this point, "It's not like you're worth telling!"

"You take that back!"

"Huh? Why should I when it's you?"

"I've been though enough today!"

"I'd love to hear it!"

"As if I'd tell you!"

Our now fistfight lasted no longer than a minute before our whole group fell on top of us…

Well more me than Leah.

_Just my luck…_

"Would. All. Of. You. Please. Get. Off. Of. Me. Before. I. Kill. You?..."

Everyone listened, but Leah.

"I don't take orders from you," was her proud answer.

"Then I'll just shove you off!"

"Try me!"

I actually shoved her off of me relative ease. She wasn't really trying.

She scratched her head and mumbled, "Lucky shot…"

Ritsu was holding Jason by his wrist, who looked like he wanted to run away, that poor shy, child.

But he really needs to get over it…

Leah sighed and started to take the spot as leader for a second, though that's usually Jason's job.

"I have a lot to explain…"

_You have a heck of a lot to explain to us. _


	49. Chapter 48: Explanation

Chapter 48

Leah POV

I looked around for a second before explaining what's going on. _There are some new faces here…_

My eyes locked on the crazy, blonde dude. _That's the same guy who wanted to fight me for some reason in the Training Game…_

I said my thoughts before I could think to hold them back, "Who are you?!"

At first the man looked surprised at my words, but he recognized me and looked away a few seconds later. His female friend looked up at him and shook her head.

Everyone else was staring at me like I was a crazy person, apparently they don't remember my fight in the Training Game or they weren't there…

_Just great… Now I look like an idiot…._

Mia looked at me with annoyance, "Just get to it already! _I'm _the least informed out of everyone here!"

Ritsu looked like he was about to pass out, "She's right… We've gotten some information as we gone through things, but things are a little fuzzy still…"

Reo looked at Ritsu, "I think more than the information is fuzzy for you, pal. You should probably rest, it's the best for your health."

Ritsu grunted, "I'm… I'm fine."

"You're not!" Ren screamed, "Mommy is a healer, and she'd say you need help!"

Ritsu grunted again, "I- I don't know then…"

Reo smirked, "So you take advice from the kid, huh?"

Ren looked down, looking upset.

Ritsu smiled tiredly, "I guess so… I am pretty out of it."

Mia growled, "You're getting distracted again blondie! Get on with it!"

Ritsu looked in my eyes before he started to rest. I could tell he wanted me to reveal the secret just by looking at them…

_Why… Just why… _

I guess it's time now… "I'm pretty sure most of you know that the people we're facing aren't actually people, but computer viruses right?"

Mia looked completely shocked, "NO!"

I glared at her, "Well you're the _least informed_, iron dummy!"

Mia was about to get in my face, "Do you want to go there, Dragneel?"

If she's ready for it I am, "If you interrupt me after I so _kindly _listened to you for once in my life, then heck yeah I'm ready, Rexfox!"

Jason shot us a glare from his spot on the ground. We both stopped and looked at him for a second.

I'm sure we both thought, _Why you, Jason… _

I coughed before continuing, "Well after I was so _rudely _interrupted…" I gulped, "These computer viruses were put into the game by two hackers. They already infected the game system with their own codes that I can't control anymore. One of those codes includes the Death Setting…"

Mia almost croaked, "Wait… _You _control?"

I looked away, "I-I'm the leader of the game system… I made it…"

Everyone who didn't already know screamed so loud it almost hurt my ears, "WHAT?!"

I jerked back from their reaction, but I repeated what I said, "I'm the leader…"

Mia looked ill, "NO WAY! There's no way you're intelligent enough to create a _game _system!"

My eye twitched. I'm taking no time in starting another fight, "Oh, so you think I'm _stupid_, metal ears?!"

Mia giggled evilly, "When have I not?"

"You wanna go?!"

"Why not!"

Everyone tried to stop us now, "QUIT FIGHTING!"

Of course we listened.

Somewhat…

Gary was so confused that he was in a ball, "You, you're the leader of this game?! No… This can't be right."

The dark green haired girl sounded socked, but just as insulting as Mia, "_You _made this game? _You, _one of the biggest idiots here?"

I growled at her. _Does everyone here think I'm an idiot?_

The blonde guy shot me an apologetic glance. I looked at him with interest,

_You seem to already know who I am, but I don't know you. Who are you?_

All the other reactions started to filter out. Rayna just laughed to herself, "I can't believe I never caught on to this…."

Honestly, Rayna's reaction was probably the best one.

Len's reaction was pretty good too though, "WHAT. THE. HECK."

Jason had the least amount of reaction, "You're the last person I'd expect to make this Leah… but getting to the point you should keep explaining…"

Always thank Jason for ruining the moment... which in this case I'm a little grateful for…

The blonde guy had no reaction, only a question, "What is the Death Setting again? It sounds familiar…"

_How would you of all people know about this?… I've never given out information this detailed to anyone… _

I felt a throb in my head.

_Ok and the voice inside of my head. _

I felt another throb on my head.

_And her grandmother, you happy?!_

I sighed, "It's a life support system that breaks your illusionary body apart and brings it to a revival station… Since it's cut off… It means whoever dies here is actually dead…"

Everyone gave me a morbid stare.

The man kept questioning me, "Illusion? What?"

I could see Rayna eyeing the man suspiciously. Len was watching me like a hawk. It was a little creepy…

Everyone else was dead silent.

I gulped. I'm really getting into shady territory now… "I created a new form of illusion magic called Animate…. It changes everything into an illusion so I can create and manipulate things in the game without breaking magical law…"

Now everyone was looking at me like I was crazy, the dark green haired girl was shaking her head like she pitied me….

I don't know how to feel about that.

I explained it a little more, "If everything is illusion then creating "living" things wouldn't be a problem, right? Technically they're not even living."

Everyone nodded. I sighed, "That's the point…"

Gary brought up a crucial question, "Who are these hackers? I'd like to find out who we're really facing here. They have a lot to pay for…"

Just thinking about the _hackers _made me want to punch a nearby wall. It took all I had to keep my voice normal, "They're Aiden and Jackson…"

Now _everyone _has had their reaction of the day.

Everyone screamed in unison, "WHAT?"

All I could do was nod.

Gary was furious, "What the heck are those two thinking?! Hacking a game?! Who _does _that?"

The dark green haired girl had her arms crossed, "Idiots who have the ability _to _hack a game. Most of you should know full well what magic those two possess; they both have to do with technology, and this system is a piece of technology, am I correct?"

I nodded but asked, "How do you know this? You didn't even know Aiden and Jackson _existed _before now."

She shook her head, "Me and the idiot here have known those two existed, you run into people sometimes, you know. It doesn't take long to figure out someone's magic here, considering all of the sensors you yourself put into the system."

I blushed a little in embarrassment. _She really knows how to get on to you… _

Then the girl finally decided to introduce herself to me, "By the way, my name's Amber. I'm assuming the reason why I didn't see you at our base earlier is because you're the leader and can't participate, right?"

I nodded.

I could see out of the corner of my eye that Rayna was glaring at Amber. _I wonder why… _

I finished my explanation, "These computer virus are the product of their incomplete hacking," I looked down, "The computer viruses therefore, see Aiden and Jackson and their lost masters, and were looking for them until one of the viruses found them at High Rise. They went with him…"

Ren had tears in her eyes, "So… Aiden and Jackson decided to betray us?"

I looked at her, "Long story short I'd say."

She shivered and looked down.

I could feel myself having to blink my own tears away. _Frustrating tears… _

I could hear Jason gulping from where I was standing, he spoke quietly, "So we need to invade their base and defeat both the computer viruses _and _Aiden and Jackson… One is already defeated…"

He looked at me in the eyes, shyness gone for a second, "We need to get going now. The more we wait the more casualties there are."

I nodded quickly, and we started to walk towards the computer viruses' guild hall. Ritsu walked over (to the best of his ability) to ask me a question while we were walking.

I was only hoping that Alice would spread the word of not killing anyone fast enough…

…

_With Alice _

Alice POV

I huffed as I ran as fast as my long legs could carry me. Despite running track at my school in London, the mile to Innercity Madness was an excruciating seven minutes of my life. I groaned inside my head,

_Aiden and Jackson just had to choose Innercity Madness of all guilds to attack… _

_ "Let's attack Innercity Madness! They won't be boring, right Jackson?" Aiden said cheerfully. _

_ "Yeah! They're not boring!" Jackson replied with just as much cheerfulness. _

_ "I think Leah's rubbing off on you Aiden…" I added in. _

_ I smirked, "It couldn't be because of your crush on her, right?" _

_ Aiden's face was red, "N-no way!" _

_ Jackson sounded so innocent, "What's a crush?" _

_ I put my hands on his shoulders, "I'll tell you when you get older…" _

I have no idea how to feel about those two… I'm sure I have more mercy on them than Leah, but still…

_I have enough to worry about just finding all my guild mates! They could be anywhere, not just Innercity Madness…. _

I was at Innercity Madness before I knew it. I ran right into Daniel Han, one of the most… interesting people in the guild…

Let's just say he has his heart set on scaring his little brother Darius Han… by telling him things that no kid should ever learn.

Don't get me started in their youngest sister… Danielle been obsessed with _Call of Duty _since her father brought it back to South Korea when he visited America…

They all have Korean names but they just translate into English names when I'm wearing my translator…

He talked to me a way to happy tone, "Hey Alice! What are you doing here?"

I swallowed my awkwardness, "Where is everyone? I have some news…"

"Innercity Madness has given us some trouble, so most of us are here… A couple people went back to the guild though. Aiden and Jackson did actually… even though they started this…"

I gulped, "I'll go back later, but you have to tell everyone you can _not _to kill anyone…"

He cocked his head to the side, "Why? That's the whole point of the tournament isn't it?"

I shook my head, "It was, but not now. I'll explain later but you need to tell everyone, even your opponents if they'll listen not to kill anyone. If you do kill anyone, they're actually dead!"

His eyes widened, "What?..."

I already started to warn other people, "I have to go warn the others! Go tell anyone you can!"

He looked at my like I was crazy, but ran off. Hopefully he'll listen.

_Something's wrong when one of the craziest people in the guild thinks you're crazy…_

I eventually started to find everyone else, and most of them believed me, but some didn't. I sent a few of them back to the guild while we defended ourselves from Innercity Madness.

It wasn't easy. Everyone in Innercity Madness grew or is growing in the innercity of various cities and countries, they're very powerful and could care less about hurting people they don't like.

_Aiden and Jackson… What have you done?..._

* * *

Disclaimer: I don't own Call of Duty


	50. Chapter 49: Dark Maze

Chapter 49

_With Leah and the others_

Leah POV

Ritsu struggled to walk over to me. I stared at him curiously. _What happened to him… _He almost fell on top of me once he got close enough to speak, "We need your help Leah…"

My look of curiosity turned to concern, "Ritsu… I'm already helping you out… I've been doing that from the beginning, you don't need to ask…"

"That didn't come out right… You need to restore our magic power."

I laughed, "How? How am I able to do that?"

Ritsu looked at me like I was an idiot, "Remember all of those Dragon Slayer levels you made?..."

I was lost, "Dragon Slayer Levels? What does getting magic power have to do with those?"

Ritsu looked troubled now, "Come on! Don't tell me you forgot the reason _why _you created them?"

Then it clicked. _The cheat codes for the levels, _"You mean when you would always cheat them?!"

Ritsu sighed, "Yes! You would get so mad to the point that you made 499 of them just to try and kill me! One of the cheats was a code to restore your magic power!"

Oh I remember that… I still need to finish that 500th level….

Everything was coming together now, "So you want me to try and use that outside the level?!"

Ritsu nodded slowly, almost sarcastically.

"How will that even work?!"

"Look, I'm just mentioning it because we probably won't make it while we're in this state," he gestured to the people in front of us. We were lagging behind thanks to Ritsu's slowness.

I looked down in thought. _I have a feeling it wouldn't work even if we tried…._

I could faintly see a hand waving in front of my face, "Leah? Are you okay?"

I snapped back to reality, "Yeah?!"

I was starting to get a headache… There's so much going on…. _Is this how my parents felt during one of their big stories? _

"Hey Slowpoke, come on! Even your injured brother is walking faster than you!" It was Mia's annoying voice….

I ran up to her faster than anyone else here, "You wanna go, Miss Annoying?"

"If you keep us back then it'll be my pleasure!" Mia had her arm pulled back for a punch.

"WOULD YOU IDIOTS STOP?!" Amber's voice was piercing.

Mia and I froze. Amber sighed and glared harshly at us, "We're already here."

The building looked no different than the land earlier when Kara pointed it out to us. It looked like the screen of the broken computer Alice showed me one day… Blinking on and off.

_So Aiden and Jackson are in there… As well as every computer virus in this game… _

We all watched as the dirty blonde guy tried to open the nearest door with a series of magic spells that I couldn't read. My magical ability has gone down significantly since this whole thing started… It's like it keeps getting worse and worse.

Amber was staring at him blankly. I couldn't help but let a giggle escape; she's just waiting for him to do something stupid….

In a matter of minutes, the door was opened. The blonde guy yelled in victory, "Yes! I can't believe that worked!"

He turned to Amber, who was still looking at him blankly. Her voice was flat, "Do have any idea what could be behind that door?"

The man smiled innocently, "Nope!"

Amber's voice got less flat and more passive aggressive, "You do know that the door you _just _opened leads to a hallway that's _dark_?"

I could see the guy's shiver from here, "N-no, not really."

Amber sighed now, "You idiot…"

The guy was getting into a small, yet kind of funny depression. While he was doing that, Jason walked near the door and looked down the hall. Gary walked up to him and started talking. I couldn't hear them.

Gary adjusted Julia to a better position on his back before speaking, "This entrance is probably the best we got. As far as we can tell, no one's there."

Makio broke his silence, "Should we go in then?"

Jason nodded quickly, even more quiet than usual.

_I don't know about this… I feel a presence… _

All of us filled into the dark hall. The blonde guy was holding on to Amber shaking in fear, trying to be quiet. Amber was quickly loosing her patience, "Would you ignore your phobias and let go of me, you idiot?!"

It was barely light enough to see where we were going, and Ritsu isn't able to use his magic…

We eventually walked long enough for the single hallway to split into two. After a short discussion we agreed that two people would choose the right path while the rest would chose the left. I was in the group who choose the left. Makio along with Maylon's unconscious body went down the right.

It only got darker as we continued down our path. It was only a matter of time before the hall split again. This time there were three paths. We did what we did last time. Gary went with Julia, who was too injured to move, Jason went with Reo, and Len went with Rayna (with some rebellion…). After all of this, it left only Ritsu, the blonde guy, Amber, Ren, the egg, and me. Who knows where Hono is.

The increasing darkness wasn't helping the blonde guy. He kept getting louder and more freaked out. Amber just kept getting more irritated.

"Just shut up, idiot."

I sighed quietly. It was so dark that I couldn't see. _Maybe it dark here because the codes are broken, or our opponents wanted to make it this dark, _I wondered.

The hall dividing was becoming constant. We only knew this time because the blonde guy ran right into a wall, causing all of us to run into him. Ritsu, Ren, and I groaned while Amber snapped, "Why to go, you idiot! You've even managed to mess this up!"

The guy's voice had light confusion, "When did I mess anything up?..."

Amber sighed loudly, but said nothing.

The guy was quiet after that.

We split up again. Amber went with the blonde guy, while surprisingly Ren wanted to go with me, leaving Ritsu all alone.

_Ritsu doesn't have enough magic power to handle this alone. _

I tried to convince Ren to go with Ritsu, "Hey Ren, can you go with Ritsu? He doesn't have enough magic power to handle this by himself."

Ren said sadly, "I want to go with you… You haven't talked with me much…"

I tried to get Ritsu's attention, "Any ideas? You can't go alone, you know that."

I heard an annoyed groan from Ritsu, "How about I take the egg with me? I won't technically be _alone._"

I frowned and Ren held onto my baggy pants, "You sure?"

"Uhuh."

Ren sniffled a little before handing me the large egg she's been holding all this time. I carefully gave it to Ritsu, "Don't get yourself killed, okay?"

His voice was light with an unsaid promise, "Yeah!"

I heard footsteps as I heard him walk away. _I've never worried about his life before…_

Ren tugged on my pants again, "Let's go, Leah."

I nodded even though she couldn't see me. Coincidentally, there were three paths, one for each group. And the presence I felt before hasn't left. _I think someone's watching us…_

I grabbed Ren's hand and started to slowly walk down the hall, hoping I wouldn't run into anything. _I wish it was brighter. _

Then I got an amazing idea. _I can use my magic! I can just change a piece of the wall into light! _

My voice had a happy lift, "Hey Ren, you want to get some light?"

Her voice was easily as happy as mine, "Yeah!"

I felt around on the, what felt like tile, floor for a piece of broken wall. _I hope there's some… _

I felt my hand go over what felt like a jagged stone. _This'll work! _

"Change! Light orb!"

A silver magic circle appeared in my hand, and the stone instantly changed into a medium orb of light bright enough to let us see. It floated just above my hand.

It was refreshing to see Ren's smile, "Wow! That's cool!"

I nodded and smiled, knowing she can see me now.

With the help of light orb, we kept walking down the hall until we reached a dead end. Frustration coursed through me as I scratched my head, "Dead end…"

Ren looked down, probably half in thought. After a minute, she looked up, chocolate brown eyes wide.

She was surprised, "Leah… Look, there's an opening over there," she pointed to the former wall to the left of us.

I shined the light more on where Ren was pointing. Despite all circumstances, there was a door there. My eyes were wide at this point. _Did I miss this earlier?..._

I subconsciously started walking down the path and gestured Ren to follow me. I grabbed her hand once she was close enough. I started to hold her hand so tightly that she winced. I apologized, "Sorry, I'm on edge."

Her voice was calm, "It's okay!"

Unlike the previous paths we choose before, this one got lighter as we walked down it. _That's weird… Why is this path different… _

The voice inside my head came for a split second; _It wasn't even there before. This shouldn't be surprising… _

I got annoyed with her, _What are you trying to say?!_

I didn't get a response.

_I'll never understand her sometimes… _

I felt a push in my chest.

"Shut up," I said out loud.

"What?" Ren asked.

"N-nothing, just forget it."

Ren didn't ask after that, but she looked at me for a second.

I let go of Ren's hand and forced myself to walk slower, so I wouldn't accidentally leave her behind. Ren was starting to pull her hand away anyway.

We only had a few more minutes of walking before our hall lead to a short staircase that lead to a bright room. I paused before going up them. _This might be our way out of here… I wish I could tell the others… _

Ren started to walk ahead of me. I jogged quickly up the stairs to pass her. _Just to be safe… Who knows what'll be in that room… _

I heard a tiny growl when I passed Ren that shocked me. I never thought she'd get mad about anything….

The light was blinding once we reached the top of the stairs. Our eyes were adjusted to little light, and the room was covered with florescent lights. I had to shield my eyes.

It was in that second of weakness, I felt my hands being handcuffed. I screamed and searched around for Ren once my vision allowed. She wasn't by my side anymore.

She wasn't even in the room anymore.

I screamed at the wall, "What did you do with Ren?! Give her back right now our you'll regret it!"

The chains keeping me to the ground started to tighten until I was forced to look up while on my knees. It was an uncomfortable position. The ceiling above me started to shift until it showed a face.

It was the computer virus that came to take Aiden and Jackson.

Blind rage went though me. I felt a burst of energy that I used to try and attack the ceiling. My chains rustled as they locked and pulled me back despite my best efforts.

The computer virus's bored face never changed, "Well that was more entertaining than I thought it would be."

I screeched at him again, "What did you do with Ren?! Don't make me ask again!"

He sighed and held up a clear, tiny orb that had a tiny person in it.

That person is Ren…

I struggled against my chains again, "Let her go! What kind of sick person are you trapping a seven year old?!"

He sighed again after dropping the orb like he didn't care, "I'm not a person, and trapping makes something boring more entertaining. Little is entertaining."

I tried to use my magic to change the chains keeping me down into something useful, but it wouldn't work…

I tried to read the magic signatures around me, but no matter how much I tried, I couldn't see the codes.

Fear shot though me. _What's going on?..._

"These chains I created cancel out any kind of magic, no matter what it's adapted to. You can't use your magic no matter how much you want to," his mouth was a thin line, "they're pretty useful."

I gritted my teeth and growled at him as he continued, "This is where you'll die in the most entertaining way I can think of. Sitting there still as I create objects to crush you."

_So he must control the spacial properties… _"What if you can't crush me?"

He did a light sigh, "I don't know how that's possible. I even have control over your friends' fates at the moment." My eyes widened.

"I control the maze."


	51. Chapter 50: Chained

Chapter 50

Leah POV

An unknown feeling filled me as I heard him say those words, but I knew it was familiar.

What is it?...

"What do you mean you control the maze?!"

His expression showed he was ignoring me at that point, but asked the question again, "What the heck do you mean?!"

Still no answer.

I felt the chains keeping me upright and on the ground start to pull me back even more, I winced.

I was forced to look at the ceiling. I could see a large, black object start to be formed above my head. It took a few seconds of forming for me to figure out what it was.

It was a grand piano…. A _grand piano_. This computer virus is going to drop a _grand piano _of all things on top of me, first.

Why a piano?...

He dropped the piano on top of me before I could figure out the answer. I could feel almost every bone in my body start to break in that moment, and it was so painful I felt numb. All I could let was a small screech of pain before my voice stopped working.

The piano disappeared a few seconds later, giving my blurring eyes a glimpse of the computer virus' face before he started his next attack.

If I even make it out of this alive, I doubt I'll be able to stand much less fight…

But this unknown feeling…. It hasn't gone away…

I struggled against the chains with what was left of my strength, which was a tiny jump that the average person would see as a twitch. _I don't think I'll be able to handle another one of those… and this is only his first attack. _

My consciousness was fading fast. The computer virus' next attack was almost completely formed. It was a _very _dumbed down attack compared to the last one….

It was a microphone….

_Man this computer virus has a weird sense of style… _

A second later a sound so high pitched and loud started to pierce my ears. Very, very quickly. _This is familiar… _

It was nearly as painful as the piano, and once again my voice left me, I couldn't screech if I like it or not.

_This is that S-class member's magic from Little Misfits… _

By the time he was done, ninety percent of the sounds I could hear before were inaudible. I could barely hear my own deep breathing. I groaned as I tried to free myself again. _The feeling's still there… _

_ Does everyone have this feeling?... The desire to save and protect the ones you love even though the odds are against you?... _

_ I've never noticed it before…._

The computer virus had long since shown his face to me. I can only assume that he can see me while I can't see him. Even though it wasn't shown to me, I could feel him looking at a health bar, watching my life force quickly disappear.

_It's disappearing fast… _

The object above me was starting to take shape. It was significantly smaller than his previous objects. It was…

A zip line?...

_What the?..._

The zip line fell on my stomach with a bearable amount of pain compared to before. My vision was almost gone at this point, but I still tried to look up to see what he would form next.

Nothing's happening…

Confusion filled me. _Why is he taking so long?_

I thought back to the things he dropped on me before. A piano, a speaker, and a zip line… I looked up blankly, trying to find a connection.

_Come on, Leah! You created this game! Figure it out! _

Then I found one. _All of these things are imbedded into the game… The piano is from Singing Sirens, the speaker takes that S Class girl's power, and the zip line is from High Rise… _

_ Does this mean he can only use things that are in the game?... _

I smiled with a small victory. _I can see why he's bored all the time now…_

Minutes felt like hours. The computer virus still hasn't done anything. _He must be out of ideas… _

I felt a giggle escape after I finished my thought, _my opponent can't think of anything… _

Finally I could see him forming something; it was gray in color and had a jagged edge. Even though I knew I was going to die if he dropped that on me, I wasn't afraid. I was too numb to be afraid.

This was forming a lot faster than the previous objects. It didn't take me long to notice it was the material that made up the walls of the maze, the stuff I used to make a light for Ren and me to see…

_Ren…._

My spirit returned for a second before it was dulled away by my physical state again. _I have to save Ren! I… I have to!..._

Out of the corner of my eye I could see the wall to the left of me start to change shape, and a few seconds later I could hear a faint drilling sound. It didn't get any louder. _Huh?_

The computer virus was seconds from dropping the stone on me.

I laid there, relaxed.

Another second passes.

The wall was starting to break.

Another second passes.

I could see the tip of an object…

Another second passes.

With no time to spare, the wall to the left of me exploded, leaving me to see Mia's annoying, contorted face.

What it was contorted with was hard to describe…

"UAHHHHH!" she yelled while holding a huge, iron drill with both of her hands. My hearing was too low for me to really hear the drill, but I assume it's louder than I think it is.

She had another victory scream before catching sight of my face, "YES! I found light! Uwahahaha! Take _that _Leah!"

I glared at her, and she finally realized I was here.

She was so surprised she dropped her drill, "Leah?!"

"Welcome…." I said meekly.

What she said was insulting, but there was concern in her voice, "What happened to you? You look even worse than usual."

"What's that supposed to mean?..."

She broke eye contact for a second, "You heard everything I just said, didn't you?..."

"Yeah," my voice was still softer than I'd like it to be, "even though that idiot computer virus made me loose 90% of my hearing…"

Mia crossed her arms, "You owe me big for saving you," she looked away, "I won't do this often for you."

I smiled weakly, but I chastised myself for being this weak around her, "Fine… Where were you anyway?..."

She looked down on me like it was obvious, "I used my magic to create that drill and cut through the ground. I even made a lighter."

I smirked now, "Well no one really noticed until now."

"SHUT UP!"

A small light green magic circle appeared in her hands, "Ok then," she sighed, "let's get this over with."

"Iron Make! Drill!"

A much smaller drill appeared in Mia's hand that looked similar to a working drill I've seen in a commercial at Alice's house. It cut through the bonds with ease.

I collapsed as soon as the chains fell to the ground, I didn't even have enough energy to stand…

I could see Mia stiffen before sighing and picking me up and putting me around her shoulders, "You owe me again, blondie."

"Say what you want…"

Mia brought me into the large hole she created, "I created an entire network system through this maze trying to find this one guy… or better said computer virus…"

My vision was blurred but I could still make out the expression on her face, it looked deadly, "No one should be able to defeat me _that _easily… He's going to pay…"

_I wonder who this guy is. _

As I laid against Mia's back, I felt a nagging feeling that I was forgetting something…

…..

Third Person POV

On the second floor of the hideout, which was better known to its inhabitants as the new Mission Control, Taikutsu, the dark brown haired, often bored, computer virus was standing looking at the globe that had full view of the game space.

He could see the _leader _escape with her friend.

Not that he really felt like chasing after them. It would take way too much effort when he could do something _much _more entertaining.

He was summoned to see the masters.

Seeing the masters is always entertaining.

Using his space distortion ability he easily moved to the top floor where the master's quarters was, but surprising to him, one of the masters met him before he could get there.

They were on the third floor.

That was the floor where Lamen was.

No subordinate computer virus ever wanted to see Lamen without the others.

Taikutsu was feeling a little uneasy, but like usual he didn't really care. Fear did make his sort of "life" more entertaining.

He was met by the youngest master, Jackson, who was gaining more control over the guild by the minute. He was much more talkative than the computer virus remembered too.

"Hello, Taikutsu. I have a request for you," Jackson had his arms behind his back, "this is on the behalf of both my brother and me so listen carefully."

"Do not kill Leah Dragneel."

Taikutsu was shocked, and he's never gotten shocked before. It was a strange, yet entertaining feeling.

"We want to kill her ourselves. We did say _we _wanted to beat the leader, didn't we? Let us do it," Jackson had a strange glint in his eyes.

It was never there before.

Jackson walked over and carefully took the crystal holding Ren from Taikutsu's hands, "We'll be looking after her. Miss Dragneel would never abandon her friend, would she?"

The computer virus slowly nodded.

Jackson started to walk away, but he stopped for a second to say this, "The rest of you can take care of her other friends."

"I'm going to talk to Lamen, alone."

…..

_With Ritsu and the Egg…._

Ritsu POV

The egg in my hands was starting to feel cold against my body as I walked down the hall. It was getting hotter.

My body had restored a little magic power, enough to let me walk on my own, throughout our walk in this hideout, but I'm sure that I don't have near enough to put up a fight…

_Stupid blonde haired computer virus… _

Out of all the computer viruses we need to defeat, I hope I get to defeat that one…

I could feel myself start to sweat. I haven't sweated in years…

_My lack of magic power is affecting my adaption to the heat and cold…_

_ Great. _

I sighed and started talking to my only company, "You're not hot, are you?"

With it being an egg with an unborn Exceed inside, it said nothing, but I could feel a little thump.

"I wonder what we should name you if you hatch before we rescue our parents, Egg. What do you want to be called?"

I didn't feel anything this time.

I sighed again. _I must be going crazy if I'm talking to an egg like this…_

It was a few more minutes of walking before I could see a faint light. It looked like fire. My mouth watered. _Fire…. Food…. _

My eyes got wide as I ran as fast as I could holding an egg. I could hear my stomach start to growl. _I haven't had food in so long! _

My hopes were realized when I saw the tiny flame faintly lighting up a medium, square room. I wasted no time slurping up the fire.

_Mmmm…. This is almost as good as Dragon Slayer flames…._

After a second, the flame started to restore itself, and like before I wasted no time eating them.

Then it happened again.

And again.

And again.

I started to eat so much that the feeling of revival from the flames was turning into dizziness. My body was starting to heat up even more.

Usually if I started feeling this way I would stop, but they were so delicious that I couldn't help myself.

The flames just kept coming.

And my body got hotter and hotter.

When it got to the point my sweat was reaching the floor, I finally tried forcing myself to stop.

_One more taste… _

I set the egg down and reached out to eat the flames one more time, but I heard a voice that prevented me from doing so,

"Enjoying those flames (giggle)?"


	52. Chapter 51: The Archives

Chapter 51

Ritsu POV

I turned around and glared at the voice, sweat flying off of my face. His face was showing as he started climbing out of a portal.

_That blonde haired computer virus… _

Excitement filled me; _I finally get my revenge huh. _

The computer virus' face was dimly lit thanks to the light of the fire. He had a large toothy smile. _So the feeling's mutual…_

"Long time no see (giggle), I've been looking forward to messing with you again. (soft giggles) It's just not fitting doing it to anyone else," I could hear tiny giggles as he spoke.

My glare got sharper, "You…"

He walked closer to me and I instinctually backed away, but he continued anyway, "That flame's tasty, isn't it (giggle)? Doesn't it remind you of something?"

The computer virus was so close he could touch me; the last thing I want is to be touched by him. But the wall keeping me from scooting back more was telling me otherwise.

"(giggles) Does it taste like _Dragon Slayer flames_?"

My impulsive side was starting to show, but tried to force it back, "H-how…" my voice was barely audible.

He glanced at the egg and then looked me in the eye, "That's an Exceed egg… (giggle) Am I right?"

My strength of will was disappearing fast, "H-How do you know this?!"

Half of his speech was giggles now, "There's that impulsive side I saw (lots of giggles)!"

Now I was offended, "You don't know that!"

He managed to get closer. His face half taken up with a smirk, "Yes I do (dark giggle). Everything there is to know about you, and everyone else, is in our archives."

I lunched forward to punch him away from me, "Archives?! Why would _you _of all… _things… _have _archives_?!"

He dodged it easily, "(giggle) I also learned that your twin sister is none other than Leah Dragneel, the leader of this game, and that you two know a lot about each other. (giggles) _Ritsu Dragneel_."

The computer virus opened a portal causing a book to fall into his hands. He opened it and started reading from it, "'Ritsu Drageel, son of Natsu and Lucy Dragneel. Twin brother of Leah Drageel. Practices Frozenflame Dragon Slayer Magic taught by Akio and Leanna and their son Hono, of whom the magic originates from. Enjoys drawing and storytelling. Wants to be more strategic but is horrible at it.' (Giggles) Do I need to say more?"

The sweat on my face wasn't only from the heat now, "No way…"

_My sister didn't tell me anything about getting personal information from people…_

"Your sister programed a system into the game that analyzes your entire self, past and everything, as soon as you enter the game and stores it in a place known as the _Archives. _Since we took over the game, those archives now belong to us (giggle)."

His smile was back; "You're my first victim, so I did some research on you. (happy giggles) Turns out you have some clear weaknesses."

I really want to punch him in the face… "And what are those?" I growled.

He started reading from that book again… "'Dragon Slayer Magic that has multiple types have a certain limit to how much of a certain element can be eaten. If the user goes beyond that limit, his or her body will start feeling the effects of that element on their own body. Balance must be kept for power to be gained completely' (giggles) Now I wonder why your body feels like it's on fire right now?"

_Leah… Why did you make the game get this kind of information… _

I didn't reply to him. I only glared. _Akio and Leanna warned me of eating too much of one element, but… I didn't know this would happen. _

His wide smile was turning into a smirk again, "I also researched you because Lamen and the masters told us to, so Taikutsu could control the maze accordingly."

I glanced at the fire again. Even though my body felt like it was boiling inside, my mouth still watered with the thought of eating it.

_What's going on?... _

"After I gave him the information, Taikutsu came up with a genius idea (giggles)! To make a fire that would make you addicted as soon as you tasted it!"

My eyes widened.

"That would make it for me, Jigen, much easier to kill you if you do it yourself (dark giggles)!"

…

_With Leah and Mia… _

Leah POV

I tried to fall asleep on Mia's back while we were walking, but that earned me a small punch on the head,

"Hey, no sleeping when I'm saving you."

I groaned and complained, "Can you be any slower? Where are we going anyway?"

She growled, "Shut it dummy. You wouldn't be saying that if I left you there to die, and we're trying to find the others if you haven't noticed…"

"And walking in this direction helps us, how?"

"That's it! No more free rides!"

Mia violently shrugged me off her shoulders, growled loudly, and turned away. I glared at her and groaned, scratching my head.

Mia sighed, "By the way, do you know where Ren is? I've actually _found _everyone's location while I was looking for that computer virus… Well, everyone's but her…."

I felt my heart sink. _Ren… _

_ I totally forgot about Ren…._

"R-Ren?!" my voice was broken, "Uhh… She was sort of captured inside a lacrima…." It was painful to be this awkward and weak around Mia…

Mia's face turned from frustrated to murderous, "YOU FORGOT ABOUT REN?!"

"No one's perfect, you know! I was injured too!" I screamed at her, defensive.

"That doesn't matter, you… you… stupid idiot!" Mia was so angry that she stumbled on her words, "She's a _child, _I don't even fully know if she's capable of using magic! She's in serious danger!"

I glared at her. _She can use magic actually, _ "Well it looks like you have a soft spot for Ren."

"Who doesn't?!"

I growled and turned away, "You have a good point…"

"Did you seriously just _agree_ with me?"

"N-no, no I didn't…." I lied.

"You did! Just admit it!"

"As if!"

We broke out into a fight without even thinking about it, but I was right about my physical state… Mia was pushing me back very easily. I really won't survive another fight if I get into a serious one….

Our fight was interrupted by the feeling of melted metal on my shoulder, 'Owwwwwww!" I grabbed my throbbing shoulder.

Some fell on Mia's shoulder too and she gasped in pain.

"What's going on?..." She growled, staring at the iron ceiling.

I huffed, the heat of the hall getting to me once I supported my own weight, "It's really hot in here…. Much more than before…."

"What does that have to do with anything, blondie?..." Mia glared at me.

"Look at your precious iron ceiling and see for yourself!" I glared back.

"I coated the passages with iron so I could tell which were mine…" she mumbled before actually obeying me.

"It's melting… Fast…" she grumbled before scraping the dry iron off her shoulder.

I sensed a presence, similar to the voice inside my head but not. It felt a lot darker….

_This is no time to be fighting amongst yourselves, Leah, Mia. Your fight is with us. _

I screamed the name of the first person who came to mind, "Aiden?!"

_Close. It's Jackson. _

"What happened to you?..." I mumbled to myself, hoping he couldn't hear me.

_That isn't Jackson… The Jackson I know is too sweet and innocent to be… this… _

_ Clearly you've noticed my personality change, Leah, but I am under no obligation to tell you the reason why. _

I twitched at that. _I didn't ask. I want to destroy you both no matter what happens to your personalities…. _I felt pain when I said those words,_ do you have any idea how many lives you've taken?_

_ I don't really think it's us, who are taking the lives, Leah, but I have one reason for talking to you right now and this isn't it. _

_ If you haven't forgotten, I have your precious Ren in my hand right now. If you don't find the top floor within an hour, she will die. Better get here quick. _

Every muscle in my body twitched. _Did he just say he was going to kill Ren?... _

Mia glared at me with sweat on her face, _He did, were you not paying attention?! We need to get going now! _

_ Since when do I take orders from you? _

_ Do you want Ren to live? _

_ Of course I do!_

_ Then let's… work… together…._

I could hear Mia gag on that last sentence.

Not that I wasn't gagging too.

_Ugh… The thought of Mia and me working together… _

I swallowed. _Just make yourself, Leah… It's only this one time… _

"Come… on then," I walked down the hall as fast as my body let me with this heat.

Mia caught and passed me quickly, she smirked and said, "Catch me if you can, blondie!" and ran as fast as she could.

"You won't beat me in anything!" I called back to her, forcing myself to run.

We raced to where the center of where the heat was, a small flame lighting a dimly lit, square room.

…

_With Jason and Reo… _

Jason POV

I looked around the dim hallway, which was only lit because of my light sword; it was tied behind my back instead of my usual magic sword. Reo had his hands pressed against his blue hair, looking around casually.

In all the years I've known him, I've never understood how he can be so calm about everything.

Nor can I understand how he can be in such a teasing mood all the time… "What happened to the guy who was leading us around earlier, Jason?"

I cringed, "Uhh… I was forcing myself?"

Reo had to stop walking he was laughing so hard, "You forced yourself to be _social_?"

I snapped, "Yeah! I've been doing that since we started searching for the Dream Key!"

Reo tilted his head back in nostalgia, "Man… It seems like forever since we were concerned about that…"

I smiled at him, ignoring the small pang of anger his words gave me, "That's the whole point we're here, right? This whole computer virus thing just got in the way…"

_Mother… Father… _

His face started to show pain now… "I know, but this is taking priority for now, isn't it? Lives of a couple million people is more important than the physical state of our parents, right?"

I looked down, "I guess so."

Looking me in the eyes, Reo smirked again, "So who do you think we'll run into?"

I squinted at him, a little confused, "Huh? You mean the computer viruses we're fighting?"

Reo smiled bigger, "Come on, you're Jason Fermandez, one of the most observant people I know, you can figure this out without me telling you."

I walked in silence and thought about it for a few seconds. _Who do I think we'll run into? _

Then something came to me, "Do you think this hall is a maze?!"

Reo snapped his fingers, "You are right, my friend," he waved his hands in a variety of motions, "guessing the complexity of this hall along with all of the magic signatures around here, I'm pretty sure this is a maze with the members waiting to ambush us."

I laughed lightly, "and how do you know this?"

"It's either my magic or intuition," Reo put his hands behind his hair again, "I've always been able to read an object's magic signature, and instinctually know how to use it's components to make something completely different using it's materials. I've heard Leah talk about her crazy magic with Ristu before, and it seems she has a similar ability. She called them codes."

"I did hear Leah say something like that to Ristu before while I was hiding in the air vents…." I squinted my eyes trying to remember something, "What do you call your magic again? You barely even use it!"

Reo giggled and punched me lightly in the arm, "I call it Magical Crafting. I have the ability to make all of those magical objects you see in a magic shop," he puffed up his chest, "but with a lot more power, variety, and skill."

"Don't let that head of yours get too big…"

"Why would I not?"

We both busted out laughing and kept laughing until we came across a white staircase. Reo looked up it,

"It's pretty long, and I can see some strange codes up there. I think it's one of the computer viruses…"

I walked over and took a look myself, "You think so? Anything could be up this staircase…. It could easily be a trap for all we know."

"I'd say let's go for it. It's not like we have any other option but get lost," he giggled at "lost".

I have a bad feeling, but since he's my friend I'll trust him… "I guess… but don't get us killed…"

"Come on, why would I?"


	53. Chapter 52: Hope

Chapter 52

_With Ritsu _

Ritsu POV

My throat was burning with dryness. I glanced at the fire against my will. I couldn't help but move towards it.

_So tasty….._

I tried in vein to stop myself, to keep my arm from reaching out to the fire. I couldn't even flinch back when I felt the fire burning my hand. _Fire…. Fire shouldn't hurt me this much…. _

I continued eating despite the desperate pleas my body was giving me to stop. I could feel my face start to flush with a harsh fever. The flushed feeling quickly spread to my arms, then my stomach, then my legs…. until my entire body felt like a volcano ready to erupt.

"(giggle) I'm going to disrupt your meal for a second!" A punch flew me across the room, not that the room was very big.

I coughed, struggling to get up. My fever was making my body weak, and I was loosing consciousness fast.

The computer virus took no time rushing over to me and opening a portal, "Cold there kid? How about some hot coals to warm you up? (giggles)"

I could feel the pain before he even started his attack. My own adrenaline was the only thing keeping me awake, "N-no….."

A portal opened above my head, which looked like the furnace of a blacksmith's shop. Someone was whistling and I saw red-hot coals that were kept still by a metal slide. The slide started to move slowly.

One of the coals landed on my head. The heat of the coal combined with my fever started to burn my skin. I winced loudly. My skin will be gone if I don't move!

_I can't move..._

I only managed to move an inch, if that….. "Oh (hysterical giggles), you don't like the heat I'm giving you?"

The wide smirk returned to his face, "If you don't like the heat… (dark giggles), then what about monsters? I know you're _dying _to share your meal with someone!"

I suddenly flinched backwards as more coals started to fall on my head and back. Some of them were burning through my cloth...

Wait….

These freaking coals are burning through my clothes!

_Dad's scarf! _

Blind rage jolted though me, as well as one of the biggest bursts of energy I've ever felt in my life allowed me to fly towards the computer virus and sock him in the jaw, "This is my _dad's _scarf, you _idiot_!" I screeched at him at the top of my lungs.

The look on the virus' face was enough to make me laugh, "Huh (shocked giggles)?"

He slammed against the wall hard enough that there was a loud _bam _when he fell. I huffed slightly before falling myself, my last bits of energy gone.

I heard another _bam _once the debris of my attack was gone, the look in the computer virus' eyes was deadly, "(insane giggles) So you do have some fight in you…" he giggled sadistically, "This is going to be fun…."

I landed right by the small fire that kept itself burning. I started slurping it without thinking, and my body responded with a true burning feeling.

My actual skin was reddening and burning away.

I screamed with pain, and the computer virus continued with his attack, "You won't live past this (sadistic giggles)!"

_I think he's right…._

I closed my eyes waiting for impact. My thoughts sounded like my last words….

_I'm sorry I'm so weak, you guys…. I've passed out at least once now…_

_ Tell Mom and Dad "hi" from me, ok?_

I didn't know who I was directing my thoughts to, but I was sure I was going to die.

"Say 'hi' to your new friend, kid (giggles)!"

A portal opened above me like always, but what came out was….

A friend.

"I'm already his friend, you monster!" Hono flew out of the portal with a diving kick to the computer virus' face.

My breath caught in my throat.

"What the?..." The computer virus was as breathless as I was.

Hono was standing in all of his second seal glory, covered in red-brown and ice blue scales and his matching wings. His glare lacked the usual human look to it; it looked like a predator fixing to take out his pray.

Or a mother bear whose child was just killed…

"Hono…" I spoke softly, barely able to breathe as is.

Hono's face turned from a glare to shock once he saw me, "Ritsu?! What the heck are you doing here?!"

I laughed softly, "Trying to beat the bad guys like we Fairy Tail wizards always do?"

He bent down to me, ignoring our foe, "What happened to you? This isn't the Dragon Slayer my parents and me trained, right?"

I could only laugh.

He glanced at the fire and back at me, "Why aren't you eating that?"

I started to reply, but he noticed my flushed face and burns first, "Don't tell me that you've eaten too much of that…"

I'm sure he could only hear my voice because he has Dragon hearing, "It's sad, but true. Don't eat any of it. It'll make you addicted."

Hono gave a frustrated sigh, "Well, this should fix our problem quickly…."

His now hands started to sparkle with specks of ice, "Ice Dragon Claw!"

He aimed at the ground, causing a small glacier to appear. I couldn't help but admire how well he polarized his magic… I can still be a failure at it sometimes…

I was so happy to eat something cold that the addictive affects that fire was having on my brain faded away. I gorged on the ice without even thinking about thanking Hono for saving my life.

"You… (giggles). You're that Dragon kid that interfered with us earlier…." The computer virus' voice had a grudging undertone to his frustrated voice.

Hono's tone wasn't too different, "Well you're the guy who managed to trap me in a dimension of monsters before I got the chance to do anything. I felt like a disgrace to my kind by even letting that happen…"

"Your kind, you say? (giggle) Thanks to the Archives, I know full well what your _kind _is capable of, but I know you would never use your full strength against anyone…"

"And why not?"

I heard a book drop and pages being flipped though, "(giggle) The Dragonoid seal gives the wearer three forms due to the seal's ability to be broken and fixed consciously by the user. 1st seal only allows one part of their true form, 2nd seal allows for half, and 3rd seal is their original state; however, if 3rd seal is used for more than five minutes…. The wearer will loose their human form."

I heard a faint growl from Hono.

"(satisfied giggles) That's how I know."

I was too much in bliss to really hear the rest of their conversation. The cold of the ice was soothing the dryness and heat from every part of my body. It felt amazing, and even better, my strength was returning as fast as a wildfire.

_I'll be able to kick that guy's butt now… _

I ran up to Hono once I finished eating the entire glacier, he was taunting the computer virus, "So you really think you can defeat a _dragon_? Don't make me laugh."

"Defeat a dragon (giggle)? As a computer virus I have the ability to destroy anything, that would include you, Mr. Dragon…"

My eyes narrowed and I chastised myself at my irrational thinking, "You won't be defeating one dragon, but two!"

I smirked at Hono and then at the virus, "and I'm ready to end this fight. I'm not planning to put this power boost to waste by talking!"

_Man I'm being impulsive…. _

I charged at the computer virus without saying another word to him, "You ready, Hono?!"

"You got that!" Hono started to outrun me with his supernatural speed.

I punched the computer virus while he was still unprepared, "Can you stall for me?!"

Hono gave me a suspicious look, but listened, "Take as long as you need!"

I stood still and put my arms up and tilted my palms towards the ceiling. I glanced at the fire. _It's about time I make use of this. _I started to steal the seemingly endless fire while adding significant amount of my own to the blue fire clouds forming just below the ceiling.

That fire was giving me a seemingly endless supply of fire, but every time I looked at it, my mouth watered. _I hope I won't regret this later…_

I gathered as much fire as I could given the size of the small room, "Dragon Slayer Secret Art! Exploding Blue Rain!"

Thousands of tiny blue explosions started to rain down on the computer virus, who didn't have time to dodge anything. However, it was hard to aim my attack…. Hono got hit a couple times, "Watch where you're aiming! This hurts you know!"

Or at least I thought the computer virus didn't have any time to dodge my attack…

"(Giggle) You won't beat me that easily," three huge portals appeared around him sucking every last bit of my attack.

The suction from his attacks was strong, Hono had first seal so he could use his claws to dig into the ground, unfortunately, I don't have that ability.

I molded my fire into something to keep my glued to the ground. I grunted loudly with my teeth clinched.

_How strong is this guy? He isn't even the leader! _

_ Even though it's sad who the leaders really are though. _

Hono glanced at me, "Hang in there! An attack like this shouldn't stop you!"

My words came out in parts, "You..'re… Right…."

The computer virus finally closed his portals once my attack completely disappeared.

I glared at him. _That's my strongest attack… _

Hono's hair covered his eyes, "Well, I guess it's my turn now…"

I could barely see Hono's movements a second later. He managed to get a couple of hits before the virus opened a portal right under Hono's feet.

Hono had to go first seal to escape from it; his wings were flapping rapidly, "You're not going to beat me with the same attack twice!"

Hono gracefully flipped once he was out of the portal's gravitation field, his wings disappearing before he reached the ground. He glared at the computer virus,

"I was able to learn some things while I was in that dimension. You did accidentally suck in some Archive books while you were retrieving some. What was in one of them made me grateful that my mother taught me to read."

The computer virus giggled, "(sarcastic giggles) Like what? Come on, I'm curious!"

Hono's eyes never left the virus' "It was about your powers. It said that each one of you control an aspect of the game. I'm certain that you control the portal field, and that's the only power you have."

Feeling stupid standing there doing nothing, I walked towards the egg, which was unharmed…. Thankfully…

The virus lifted an eyebrow, "(confident giggles) So? My ability lets me defend against anything, next to nothing can get past it!"

Hono's voice was low, "It means that if you get hit with a strong attack, you're dead."

I could see an evil smile playing at the virus' face, "(quiet dark giggles) It also allows me to attack unsuspecting people…"

"What?!"

A portal appeared underneath the egg and me before I even had the chance to think. The first thing I saw was blackness, more blackness, and even more blackness. I remember Mom or Levy talking about free fall before… I think this is it.

Thanks to my Dragon Slayer hearing, I could barely hear the computer virus' gloating, "(giggles) That's a dimension where you fall forever into nothingness…"

And I could hear Hono's angry screams, "You don't mean?!"

_Falling forever into nothingness… _

I held the egg as tightly as I could. I pushed all of my remaining magic power into my feet and pushed blue fire out of my feet to try to make it to the small portal hole.

I was running out of power fast.

_I have to make it! A Fairy Tail wizard doesn't let himself be defeated this easily, right? _

I pushed harder as my determination increased. _I'm not going to let something like this beat me! I have to be strong! _

Even though the hole started to get bigger, my magic power was almost gone. Dizziness was starting to overtake me, and my determination started to disappear.

_I have… to…. make it! _

My determination started to disappear with every second.

_I have…_

Till there was nothing left.

_I'm not… going to make it… _

A dimension that makes you fade into nothingness.

The fire from my feet stopped suddenly and I started to fall again, even faster than before.

My hope was gone. I have nothing to get me out of this now.

I let my thought's drift for a few seconds, before I heard a tiny _crackle_ sound.

It barely caught my attention. It could be my imagination for all I know.

Then I heard the _crackle _sound again, but louder.

And again.

And again.

Until the egg inside my arms started to break.

My eyes were wide with awe as I saw the small creature flying above me, or better said Exceed.

Her fur was a blue so light that it was almost white, and her little eyes were as black as Happy's but with Carla's eye shape. Her underbelly didn't have the white circle Happy's did, but was the same color along with the rest of her body like Carla's, along with her tail.

_This is Happy and Carla's child… _

While I was lost in awe, I felt small paws start dragging me towards the portal hole, "H-heavy…" Her voice as a soft, high pitch.

The portal was starting to take up the entire ceiling of the dimension. I squinted once I felt the flash of light as we flew though the portal.

I remembered what I said before this whole fight started, _"I wonder what I'm going to name you…" _

There was one name that came to my mind.

_I'll call her Hope, because when I thought I had none, she made me realize that I had more._

* * *

A.N- I'm going to be editing and re-writing this story in some parts as mentioned on my profile page. New information is going to be added to some of the previous chapters or added in general to make the story flow better. I'm going to try and fix it as fast as I can, but if some things seem out of place for a few weeks that's why. Thanks for reading this!


	54. Chapter 53: One Question I Cannot Answer

Chapter 53

_Five minutes before…. _

Hono POV

I went numb when I saw Ritsu go down that hole….. I could barely even think straight…..

_This guy…. Just sent my first friend to his death and I did nothing…. _

I could faintly hear the chains that bind my seal start to break. My skin was starting to turn to scales and my wings erupted from my back again.

I had little resistance forcing 2nd seal out; it was _easy. _

I was pushing 3rd seal if I didn't watch it.

Blue fire and red fire was pulsing from my body as I fixed to charge at the computer virus with all my might, "What did you do to Ritsu?!"

The computer virus was too busy laughing at his handiwork to notice me, "Hahahahahahahahahaha (even more giggles)! That's what you get for taking me on, kid!"

I almost savored the look on his face when I punched it, "What the (giggle?)?"

I punched him right through the wall into another room. I stood still to let the virus see me through the rubble.

The computer virus struggled to get up and once the ash cleared, he got a good look at my form. His words said it all, "That form… (surprised giggle), don't tell me you're actually going 3rd seal…."

Then he smirked and giggled in a way that made me want to kill him even more, "Do you really want to risk breaking your seal (confident giggles)?"

I clinched my now sharper teeth and said my voice low and starting to gain velocity, "There might be something missing in that Archive of yours…. It missed a clear detail about this seal…"

He lifted an eyebrow, "Oh (giggle)? Well show me then, I dare you!"

_With pleasure,_ "The Dragonid seal won't break completely… if the user is angry enough summon their dragon state without forcing it…."

"Ha….?"

I didn't give him anymore time. I concentrated all the magic power the seal was giving me into my right hand, "Blast of the Frozenflame Dragon's rage!"

A blast of blue fire almost bigger than the room itself was shot right at the computer virus while he was too shocked to create a portal.

It disintegrated him in an instant.

I huffed, "Don't… mess… with a dragon…."

I started to feel dizzy for the first time in my life. I tumbled over to the portal, almost closed because I "killed" its creator.

It was also there, that I felt a tear escape my eyes for the first time…

I jammed my fists to the ground, "Why?! Why did he choose Ritsu?!….."

I could hear my tears reaching the floor. I thought my parents leaving was bad, but now….

Loosing someone feels even worse….

I looked down the portal one last time out of spite, but I saw something….

I saw a small creature….

I watched in awe as I saw the creature getting closer, and it wasn't until it came out of the portal that I realized what it was carrying….

It was carrying Ritsu….

_No way…. _

The tiny light blue cat fainted and its wings disappeared once it was high in the air, causing both it and Ritsu to fall to the floor unconscious….

I struggled to run over to him, "Ritsu!"

Ritsu started to regain consciousness once I got to him, "Where… Where am I?"

I tackled him with a bear hug, "You're alive! I can't believe you're alive!"

He struggled against my grip, "Huh? Hono…. What's going on?... You're not like this…."

I forced myself to back away, "Sorry… You just came out of a portal, remember?"

Ritsu stared off into space trying to remember, "Oh yeah…." He looked around, "Hey… Where's…."

He started tripping over to where that blue cat was; "Hope!" he yelled desperately.

"Hope?" I slowly walked over.

Ritsu tried standing up holding the cat in his hands, "That's what I named her…" he looked at me in the eyes, "this is the Exceed that was in the egg Ren carries all the time…"

"So you mean…." I started, "The egg that would never hatch…. Saved you?..."

Ritsu's voice had a light laughter to it, "Crazy, huh? It's a miracle!"

"So that's Happy and Carla's daughter?!"

Ritsu smiled widely, "Yep!"

I'm in shock… "No way…"

Suddenly I heard tapping in the ceiling, "Umm, Ritsu. Do you hear anything?"

He looked up, "Uh. Not really."

I stared at the ceiling for a few seconds until I heard screams.

_They sound like…_

Then part of the ceiling collapsed.

Man, I just keep getting shocked…. "Leah and Mia?!"

Leah was standing over Mia with a large iron hammer in her hands and Mia looked like she was about to trip her. Ritsu and I could only stare at them.

"Don't go down there, you…. You dumb changing monster!"

"Don't even try to stop me, Iron Ears! I can't let my own _brother _and friend loose when I'm standing right here!"

"You'll ruin _everything_! Do you trust them at all?!"

"This isn't something I can take risks with!"

"At least don't fight me with my own hammer!"

I'm going to stop them now, "HEY!"

They stared at me wide eyed in the middle of a wrestling position… "Welcome," I had my arms out.

Leah blinked, "Hi…. Uhh… What did we miss?"

I looked at them blankly, "An entire fight…."

Ritsu scratched his head with a free hand, "Were you both watching us this entire time?..."

Leah looked away, "Uhh, no… What would give you that idea?..."

_They were watching us…. _I face palmed, " I'm not even going to ask…."

"How'd you guys get here?..." Ritsu asked.

Mia cut it short, "Long story. We have more important things to do, like rescuing Ren and beating that question guy…"

"Question guy?…." Ritsu and I said in unison.

"I'll explain after I beat him to a pulp!" she screamed at us.

Ritsu had an "I'm worried for you" face before his eyes narrowed seriously, "What's this about Ren getting captured?"

Leah hopped to her feet quickly, "If we don't find Jackson in…." she counted on her fingers, "45 minutes… She's going to die!"

_What?_

"We need to go!" She started looking around for something.

Mia suddenly grabbed her by the collar causing her to fall; "You destroyed my path system…" she told her darkly, "We have to go on foot now thanks to you!"

"What?..." she squeaked out.

Ritsu ran into the room I discovered suddenly, sniffing the surrounding area.

"I smell something…."

I sniffed too, there's definitely something in the air… "I do too…."

"What?" Leah broke away from Mia's hold.

"It's…" Ritsu started.

"Aunt Maylon and Makio…." I finished.

Leah and Mia's eyes widened and they ran over into the other room. I followed them.

Leah spoke quickly, "Let's follow their scent! They're our best bet at this point!"

Ritsu spoke weakly, "You do know that we can't run, right?"

Leah stopped dead in her tracks in her sprint down the room's hallway, "Huh?"

"We can't," I confirmed bluntly.

Leah blushed slightly before turning and running anyway, "Well… I'll just go without you then! We have to save Ren as fast as we can!"

Mia did an enraged growl before chasing after her, "What do you think you're doing, _idiot_?! Are you _that _stupid to leave your only guides behind?!"

Mia turned to us and asked one question before starting to charge again, "and is that an Exceed in your hands, Ritsu?..."

She ran off before she could see Ritsu's nod.

As they both ran into the distance, and both Ritsu and me sighed.

"They're more alike than they'd like to admit, huh…" Ritsu mumbled to me.

"Heck yeah…."

We started walking down the hallway, following Makio's and Aunt Maylon's scent,

But I couldn't help but notice the questions on the wall…. and that I could actually sense the heat increasing.

…..

_Finally with Amber and the blonde guy…._

Blonde guy POV

"Idiot"

Throughout my entire walk with Amber, I heard this word the most.

And judging that I'm completely terrified, this word is pretty accurate.

"Amber… It's dark…. and there are sounds…. and ghosts….. and monsters…." My voice got higher with fear after each mention of my fears.

Amber's eyebrow twitched when she heard _ghosts _and _monsters_, "If there were _ghosts_ here we'd be dead by now, idiot!"

It took me a second to realize that she was right.

And the reason why she was right was little offending, but I'll tell you why later…

"You're so cruel…." I moaned to her leaning on her shoulder.

She glared harshly at me, "Can you please take this _seriously_?! Hundreds of people are _dying _right now, and all you care about is your fear of the dark? You really are an idiot…"

I flinched, "You didn't have to take it that far, Amber…."

She turned around sharply, "I _do _have to take it that far! Don't you realize this is a time to _swallow _all of your stupid phobias and focus? Come on! I've seen you do it before!"

"This is a time to freak out…" I moaned defensively, "We're not facing anyone yet…"

It was after that, that she lost it, "Do you want me to beat you to a pulp?..." her eyes had a death glare.

"No…." I don't really want to die today…

Her death glare didn't go away…. "Then shut up and help me fix this."

I curled into a ball in the nearest corner, shivering.

And Amber started saying personal things again, "Come on, idiot! You're no better than your _brother _right now!"

I flinched and stopped shivering. _No better than my brother?..._

"Don't mention him…" my voice was shaking.

Amber sighed, walked over, and apologized, "Sorry, that's something sensitive for both of us..."

I nodded and turned around. _Am I crazy or did Amber just apologize to me? _

I saw angry eyes instead of sympathetic eyes though… "But it doesn't mean you don't deserve a beating for being a coward in a time like this though…."

_I guess not…_

My eyes got small, "Huh…?"

It was less than a second before Amber started to fight me, and _like always _she ended up beating me into a corner….

My mother would not be happy with me right now, but she was never happy with me so it doesn't really matter….

I sat up with my back cracking while Amber glared at me, "Ow…." I groaned.

She swiped her hands, "Now that this is over with, let's get going, idiot."

The "idiot" she said sounded affectionate…

….

No me! Don't get any crazy ideas!

I rubbed my head as I followed behind her. I should of expected a beating eventually…

I flinched again. It doesn't change the fact that it's still dark in here…

I did a high pitched little screech that made Amber glare at me again, "You're not a little kid anymore, grow up…."

My voice was shaking for a different reason now, "I can't help it…"

"You _will _help it if you don't want another beating…."

I tried to be quiet after that.

We kept walking until we found another staircase, and we walked up it without question. I know we're past the second floor now, and I'm sure we're out of that maze….

I hope….

I sighed with happiness when I got to the top though. _Ahh! Beautiful light! _

Amber sighed, but didn't say anything. I guess me being happy doesn't make her angry.

I really should have realized that after how long we've known each other…

There wasn't another hallway in sight; just a large, almost ornate door.

"This must be the third floor…" Amber said in thought.

"How do you know that?" I asked.

She looked at me skeptically, "This game is fairly easy to read. The only hard part of this hideout is that freaking maze…."

I sweat dropped. Why haven't I read the game before now?

Amber walked towards the door, "There's no need for us to stay out here and stare with all of what's happening outside, let's go in."

I gulped and nodded.

Amber felt around the door once we reached it and said to me, "There's definitely a computer virus on the other side of this door… but it's different for some reason…." She shrugged, "Anyway, I need you to use your magic to break down this door."

"Why me?" I looked at her strangely.

"Are you _that _oblivious?! My magic works with your _mind _not objects!"

"Oh yeah…" I breathed out in reply before approaching the door.

I covered my body in magic signatures, "Crush punch!" I yelled one of my horrible attack names.

I'm pretty sure Amber cringed at it.

I punched a big hole in the door to let us see a board computer virus with flat, dark hair and small eyes. He was sitting in a chair.

"Well look who found me first," his voice was thick with confidence.

He hopped out of his chair and met us in the middle of the… pretty plain room compared to the door….

"It's nice to meet you Miss Amber and Mr…." He trailed off before I interrupted him.

"Don't even mention it," I said sharply, my mood changing with the prospect of fighting an opponent.

"Why are you even being polite?" Amber's eyes were low.

"I'm always polite to any person I'm about to slaughter, at least in person," he replied simply, "and speaking about being polite, allow me to introduce myself, I'm Lamen, head of the computer viruses."

Amber crossed her arms, "So you're the strongest virus then, am I right?"

Lamen's smile was close to a smirk, "You are correct."

I gulped. This guy is going to be strong…

"Well if you're going to be polite before you "slaughter" us, I have a few questions to ask you," Amber's eyes were sharp.

He put his hands behind his back, "It's only polite to answer at least one of them, but know that I'll only give you one answer."

Amber smirked, "Oh, I don't care if I only get one question. We'll force the rest out of you by the time we're done…"

"Confident there, are we."

Amber started her question, "If you know anything about our magic, you'll know why I'm asking you this. Why are you different than the other computer viruses? There's almost something _human _about you."

His voice was dripping in politeness, "Well miss you've asked me the one question I cannot answer, but I'll ask my questions about you two now. It's only polite."

We got into fighting position, "For some reason, we have no accurate information on either of you in our Archives," the virus started, "we have some close people, but they're not you. It's no wonder the training game mistook you for someone else, Mr. Blondie. "

Amber responded to him with the same line he fed us, "Well mister you've asked us the one question we cannot answer."

…..

_With Jason and Reo _

Jason POV

We walked up the stairs slowly and carefully, Reo leading the way. The strange heat we were feeling downstairs felt lighter, like it was only in the strange maze we were in.

_So we found an exit to the maze huh… We need to let the others know…. _

Reo reached the top of the staircase much faster than I did, "You coming, Jason? Don't make me have to come down there and carry you!"

I snorted at his last comment; he said it with a joking tone, "I'm coming!"

I started to run up the stairs faster to catch him, huffing.

He teased me when I got to the top, "Man Jason, you're not going to be scary anymore if running up a flight of stairs makes you tired…."

That made me more confused than angry, "What do you mean by scary?"

Reo blushed a little and turned away, "Oh! Never mind then…."

_Ok…. Don't really know what that means…_

I pushed past Reo and looked around the room the stairs lead to. It was much brighter than the maze, which made me put my light sword away, and it had a round shape with controls of every shape and form everywhere…

I unsheathed the sword on my back, "Is this some kind of control room?"

Reo looked around, "Seems like it. The encoding on some of these controls looks familiar…"

Reo walked over to one of the controls and I followed him, "Really?"

"Yeah… I think this one is some sort of heat control…."

_… Heat control? Is this why it's so hot in the maze? _

The control Reo was talking about was a red button with a temperature under it; it said 96 degrees Fahrenheit.

Reo crossed his arms and said lightly, "No wonder it's so hot in that maze, this is at 96 degrees…"

Reo reached for the button and a light purple magic circle appeared while he tried to turn it.

But it didn't work….

Reo tried harder, "Why isn't it working… This should work…"

_They're should be a computer virus up here… Maybe it's causing this… _

I felt a presence above me once I thought that. I looked up.

There was the computer virus, trying to spy on us in whatever glory he had left…

I stared blankly at him until he noticed me.

He only came down when Reo noticed the temperature getting higher the more he messed with the control, "What the?..."

The virus landed softly on the floor and talked to me, "Well I expected you two to come here first… pretty boring…"

My eyes sharpened, "What do you mean by boring?"

He sighed, "You two's sheer presence… and you could have at least found some entertaining way to get in here. Staircases are so last week…"

Reo started to panic, "Umm Jason…. Things are getting worse here!"

I glanced at him before giving the computer virus my attention, he sighed, "It was boring without giving you some sort of incentive to beat me so I installed that temp-control button to slowly kill anyone in the maze until you beat me."

Reo almost spit, "What?!"

And I growled, "What are you talking about?..."

He looked at me in the eyes, "After failing to kill Leah Dragneel, which was boring, and after being told not to kill her, which is really boring, I had to find something entertaining, and little entertains me."

Then he sighed again, "I gave you an incentive. Incentives are entertaining. If you don't beat me in a certain amount of time, I'm going to use my ability to make all of your friends still in the maze die of heat, and I'm guessing that time…"

The virus shrugged, "is no more than fifteen minutes…."


	55. Chapter 54: 15 Minutes

Warning! This chapter does have some light spoilers for the Phantom Lord arc

* * *

Chapter 54

The virus shrugged, "I'm guessing that time is no more than fifteen minutes…"

I could feel myself go cold once he told us the time. _We only have fifteen minutes to defeat him?!_

_Natsu_ barely had enough time to defeat one of the Element Four in fifteen minutes in Mother's Phantom Lord story…. How on earth are we supposed to do that?! We're not Natsu!

I got ready to charge at him. _Wasting time isn't going to let me do anything… I need to fight while I have the chance._

I requiped the magic sword I was already carrying, "Magic Sword Level 2!"

The average hilt of the sword became more ornate with colors that complemented the light blue of the blade of the sword. The edge of the blade itself became sharper and I could feel a greater magic pulse from it than before. It was more toned down compared to my other requips, but it is only level 2.

The computer virus didn't look in the least bit entertained.

He put his hands out and out of no where a shield appeared. He angled the shield to block every swipe I threw at him. Eventually it got to the point that I had to stop.

I stepped back and stood, my teeth clinched. _What ability does this guy have?!_

The virus' shield disappeared and he sighed, "I gave you a time limit because I wanted this to be entertaining. Holding back isn't entertaining…"

_No fighter goes all out on the first move… Right?… Well maybe Natsu, but he's Natsu…._

I glanced at Reo, who was still trying to fix the heat control. He was quickly getting frustrated.

"Why can't my magic fix this thing?! I've never not been able to fix something!"

The virus' tone was flat, "You better tell your friend to stop messing with that, it gets worse the more you mess with it. I don't want him to ruin the entertainment I set up for myself…"

_Should I really trust a computer virus? _"Ohh man! It's getting worse!" Reo screeched.

"Stop messing with it!" I yelled over to him, "Messing with it makes it worse!"

Reo stopped immediately, but groaned, "What else am I supposed to do then?! I can't fight!"

I had to come up with a quick idea, "Then…. Then support me! I need all the help I can get!"

_Natsu may have barely been able to defeat someone in fifteen minutes by himself (Happy couldn't do much in the situation), but I have someone who can help…._

_Why didn't I realize that before?_

"Now are you ready to continue? You only have ten minutes left," The computer virus asked with boredom in his voice.

_Only ten minutes…. _I charged at him rather than reply to him. He'll get the point.

I changed out my magic sword with my electric sword and added my water sword. I changed the levels of both of them, "Electric Sword Level 3! Water Sword Level 3!"

The battery on my electric sword became more advanced and I gained an extra SC plug on my arm. The blade of the sword was shocking with enough electricity to supply a house for an hour.

The blade of my water sword changed from being still water, to water rapids. The clear blue of the water changed to have a green tint along with the waves of the hilt. The hilt also gained even more waves to its design.

I tried to move faster so the virus couldn't use his shield on me. I swiped the swords at the same time to combine their powers.

The electrified water was going right at him until he blocked it….

With a lightning rod….

He blocked it with a huge lightning rod that shorted out and exploded once my attack hit it. I could feel sweat on my face. _Do lightning rods work like that?..._

I shook my head. _Never mind that! How on earth am I supposed to defeat this guy when he has a counter to everything I throw at him?!_

The virus started going on the offensive, "Chains…" he mumbled before chains appeared and grabbed my wrists before I knew to dodge.

He was holding the other end of the chains in his right hand. He jerked me into each wall of the room, causing me to drop my swords and get the breath knocked out of me over and over again.

I tried in vein to requip another sword to cut my way out, but no matter what I did it wouldn't happen. _What's going on?!_

I tried harder to free myself, to try and force the chains out of the virus' hands, but even though I made him loose his grip once, my efforts were truly in vein….

This computer virus has a lot more physical strength than I would take him for…

He threw me around some more while whatever it was in those chains left me defenseless. Each time he threw me it hurt more and more.

_There has to be some sort of way out of these chains!_

I looked around to see if I could find anything that I could trick the computer virus into throwing me towards to free myself. All I saw were controls, nothing sharp that could cut iron.

Other than my own swords on the ground, that were right near Reo.

"Reo! Throw me one of my swords!" I yelled.

Reo was standing there shaking and looking like he had no idea what to do. _Come on Reo! I'm usually the shy, scared one, right?!_

I lost my opportunity to get my swords after a few seconds. I screamed again, "Reo!"

Reo glanced at the heat control again, like he still wanted to try and fix it. _Please don't, Reo…_

I would have never thought that Reo was this bad in close combat situations. He's always been a sideline guy, but his father is _Gajeel_…

I'm guessing he gets this from Levy…

I laid on the ground with standing alone starting to become difficult, but I managed anyway. I wiped some of the debris off of my mouth. _I may be shy, _I thought confidently, _but it's going to take a lot more than this to defeat me!_

The virus' face looked darker than usual when I looked at it, "This… This is so _boring…_" his voice lacked its usual flat tone.

It sounded angry.

"_This _is what you consider entertaining?! I loose the one entertaining thing I get, and _this _is what I have left?!"

Until now I thought this computer virus didn't have emotion, but apparently his whole life revolves around entertainment….

_What is this one entertaining thing he lost?_

He dropped my chains and bent down and picked up electric sword and my water sword, "At least this is a more entertaining ending…. I've never seen swords like this before…"

My reflexes kicked in once I saw him swipe the swords at me. They were strong enough to block his attack with the end of the chains…

Those chains became my newest sword. It took a lot of energy and strength but it worked….

Well it worked until I started running out of energy and strength.

We stopped suddenly with my heavy chains falling to the ground and me falling to my knees panting in exhaustion. Sweat was falling from my face and my muscles burned.

The virus only had a few scratches on his face and arms. His long dark brown hair was all in his eyes due to the fight.

I was so low on energy that the chains were too much weight for me to stand up, leaving me on my knees.

_Just like I was when I fought my mother when this all was beginning…._

This situation is giving me very mixed emotions right now…

The virus stood over me and put his foot on the small of my back, "Your attacks are boring, the most interesting was you using your own chains as a sword," his voice got sharper, "This fight was _very _unentertaining, and your friend didn't even try to help you."

He lifted the electric sword in the air, "You have five more minutes before I kill you and everyone else. Good luck finding an entertaining way to get out of this one."

_He's going to kill me in way less than five minutes… _This situation was giving me more flashbacks of my mother and I's fight.

_My mother stood over me and I could feel a dark aura. Her voice was firm, "Despite these circumstances, you have no right to go around stealing form people. It's still a crime. A crime you will still have to pay for."_

_I didn't say anything to her. What we did was wrong, and at least one of us probably deserves to be punished. I guess that person is me… I squatted down and waited for impact, but I still twitched when she put her foot on my back, "You will pay back everyone you and your gang took from, understand?"_

_I nodded._

_Then, to my surprise, she took her foot off of me and put her hand on my head. Just like she used to do…. Her voice was gentler, "If you all need help doing that, you can always find work at Fairy Tail…"_

_In the end, my plan was for that to happen, but I didn't expect it to work until it did._

Like I said before, this situation is getting me very mixed emotions…

I waited for the impact of my electric sword.

And waited.

And waited.

He wasn't attacking me…

I looked up and saw that the computer virus was frozen still. _How?_

Reo ran over with a sharp pocketknife he probably made himself, and started to cut the chains off.

I said to him in shock, "You had this knife the whole time and _you _were the one who froze him?!"

"I'm not good in close combat situations…" he smiled sheepishly, "Can't you tell?"

I laughed lightly, "Yes, I can."

"The Freeze Bomb won't work for so long, so we need to come up with a plan in under a minute." Reo started to explain.

I growled, "Well we have less than five minutes to beat him anyway…" I rolled my eyes, "when he was about to kill me he was telling how boring my attacks where. He was irritated with how I was fighting."

Reo's voice had some admiration in it, "Well _I'm _not able to fight with those crazy chains… and I think it was a good split decision too."

I smiled, "Thanks," then I had an idea, "Do you think we need to beat him using _creativity_? Creative things tend to be the opposite of boring!"

Reo looked up, "That's probably true, but how are we going to do that?"

Then I was quick with another idea, "Use your contraptions, Reo! They're extremely creative!"

Reo was immediately against it, "I'm horrible in close combat situations, Jason! I was barely able to save you!"

I smiled warmly at him, "Come on! Don't be me earlier! This _will _work, trust me!"

I requiped my fire sword, "Get whatever you want to use ready. My plans got us out of a jam when we first started this journey, and they'll work again!"

….

_With Alice_

Alice POV

It was as painful as expected trying to get Innercity Madness to listen to us. With all of them growing up or having grown up in the innercity of different countries, they're obviously not quick to trust people…

Especially people they're told to kill in order to win a contest.

"Do you really expect us to believe you little dummies?" A larger member screamed at us.

The girl near him agreed with him, "Yeah! You'd just kill us once our guard is down!"

I put my hands up like they were a small defense, my voice had a disgusted and fearful tone to it, "Trust us, we'd never do something like that to you guys…."

Our members that didn't believe me weren't helping, "Look, I have no idea what they were talking about either, but let's get this fight going. We have a tournament to win!" He was a member I didn't know well, so I didn't know his name.

I glared at him, "Don't! Please, we don't want you die here!"

Another boy around the same age, who did believe me, tried to hold him back, "Please believe her! I'd rather you be safe than sorry and dead!"

"Get off of me! We need to beat these guys! They're probably one of the strongest guilds against us right now!"

"At least let us get our team together and make sure they're ok! We shouldn't be fighting right now with this going on!"

The aggressive boy didn't listen. He was our _one _member who died.

His friend was so distraught that he pulled up the Rejuvenation Center on a screen and shoved it into Innercity Madness' faces so they could see what they've done. I've never seen that kind of twisted anger on a face before.

Even though I didn't really know him, I could feel myself cry. We all cried.

It was only then that Innercity Madness believed us, and they felt horrible for what they did the entire time.

Innercity Madness agreed to help us spread the word. I'm sure they'll go The Crybabies first….

The place that was a battleground was a place of discussion now. As I sat in thought, Daniel walked over to me.

Oh, I could feel the awkwardness coming, "Umm… Hi Daniel…"

He was dragging his little brother by his shirt, "Is there a faster way to do this?" he asked bluntly, "The faster we do this the less lives are lost."

"That's not what you were going to say!" It was Darius, "You were going to tell her th…" Daniel put a hand over his brother's mouth so all I could hear were mumbles.

Daniel did an evil glare at his brother and did a smile that looked tight, "I was going to tell you that we need to do this faster."

I sweat dropped. _I doubt that's what you told him…_

I gulped and tried to give him the best answer I could, "I-I don't know. Know anyone who can fly or create a video or something?"

Daniel was a little distracted whispering things to his brother to hear me correctly, "What?"

I sighed and slumped down. _You're hopeless…_

Darius looked mortified, and I looked at him with a little pity. _You poor innocent child…_

I tried to sit up straighter and repeated my answer, "Do you know anyone who can fly or create a video or something?"

Even though Darius was still shaking while being held by his brother, Daniel replied like we were having a normal conversation… "No, not that I know of, but making an announcement is a good idea…"

He smiled evilly at Darius, "Right, Darius?"

Darius looked like he was about to cry, "Uhuh…" he nodded quickly.

"I have no idea how you make one though," Daniel continued, ignoring his brother's reaction.

I but a finger to my chin. _Leah probably knows how to… but she's fighting the guys who took Aiden and Jackson, as well as fighting them too..._

_Why did they do this?..._`

"I probably know someone who can, but she can't help us right now…"

Daniel was a little distracted with his brother, "Why not?"

I sweat dropped and sighed, "It's a long story…"

"Well it's not any longer than the o…" Darius started before Daniel covered his mouth again.

"He's talking nonsense, just ignore him for now," Daniel's smile was tight again.

I felt the awkwardness come back, "Uh… Sure…" _What do you tell that child?_

In the little moment of silence Daniel gave me while whispering to his brother again, I heard the voices of a couple of children around Jackson's age…

They were being walked here by one of the older members (meaning she was around my age…), and were deep in conversation with each other.

I could hear them once they got close enough, "I can't believe I didn't get to beat that guy! We had a _chance _this year!" It was an icy, blue haired girl.

The other child, a boy with red-brown hair, complained, "Did you have to try and beat the guy in the _coldest_, _snowiest_, mountains in the game?..." he was holding himself, shivering.

The girl had a little bit of an evil smile on her face, "_Of course_! How else would you be _happy_? The cold is _awesome_!"

"NO IT'S NOT!" the boy screamed, still shivering.

"Yes it is."

"No it's not…."

"Yes it is."

"No it's not…"

"Yes it is."

"_No_."

"_Yes_."

The girl leading them to us hates going back and forth with things… "Can you two please stop?! I can't take this!"

Daniel, Darius, and I walked over to them, "What's up?" I asked her.

Daniel was a little too busy laughing at the boy's reaction, "That was probably one of the funniest arguments I've ever seen!" he looked at Darius, "Right?"

Darius' eyes widened and he nodded quickly.

I gulped in awkwardness and gave the children a "be worried" stare.

The girl started to explain why she brought them here, "These two kids have some sort of magic that lets them fly, so I was wondering if you wanted them to fly around and tell everyone. It seems like it'll make things happen a lot faster."

I looked at Darius and Daniel for a second before looking at the girl, _We were just talking about how we need someone who can fly!_

I ran over to the children, belt down to their level, and smiled at the girl, "That's a great idea! We've actually been talking about someone doing that right before you got here!"

The girl smiled in satisfaction, "Good then. Well, I'm going to go and tell more people now."

I smiled warmly at the children, "Will you help us out and fly to tell everyone what's happening?"

The boy was going to speak but the girl interrupted him and crossed her arms, "We'll only do it if you don't watch us."

_Huh? _"Can I ask why?"

The boy was going to speak again, but the girl interrupted him again, "No, it's private."

_Umm, ok. _"Well go and do it then…"

I stared at the kids as they ran off. _Interesting kids…_

….

_While Jason and Reo are fighting… Finally with Maylon and Makio..._

Makio POV

I didn't feel like myself while I was walking down that hallway. Most of the crazy parts of my personality are only around when I'm getting dressed or hanging out with the guild and Maylon.

And with Maylon passed out…. I almost feel like I did when I was a criminal.

Way too serious; deadly serious.

I also was worried about Maylon's health too. She could still be having seizures for all I know.

There was one positive to this though… _It's dark enough that if Maylon were awake… she'd be evil in a few seconds with another health consequence…_

I sighed and kept walking hoping to find _something._

As I kept walking, the only change I noticed was the temperature.

It kept getting hotter and hotter.

And hotter.

And hotter.

_It's so hot in here that I'm starting to not feel well…_

My head was feeling light and I was sweating buckets. I could barely even feel anything when I rammed right into a wall.

_Dead end?... _I groaned in my thoughts.

I reached over the wall and noticed that it was a door; I opened it hoping the room on the other side would be cooler.

It ended up being _hotter..._ but it was bright and the entire room was a huge scape of an open field and animals… There even was a blue sky.

_Am I seeing things or am I in another dimension or something?..._

In my condition, I wouldn't be surprised if I was seeing things.

I fell down on the grass, Maylon falling beside me. The grass felt cooler. I sighed, _This feels so good…._

It wasn't long before I drifted off into sleep, but right before I did I heard someone's voice,

"How can I make use of this?"


	56. Chapter 55: What a Rival Does

Warning! This chapter has very very light spoilers for the Galuna Island arc.

* * *

Chapter 55

Jason POV

_Back with Jason and Reo…_

I requipped my fire sword, "Get whatever you want to use ready. My plans have gotten us out of a jam when we first got here, and they'll work again!"

Reo was speechless, but I ignored it and charged at the computer virus, who was already starting to unfreeze, "We have a new plan, virus!"

I changed my current sword to one I liked to call "Paper Sword". It's made out of a special kind of paper that Reo made that stays firm when it slices though something. It gives anyone swiped by it huge paper cuts.

Like the name implies, it's completely made out of Reo's paper. Some of the paper is colored to look like a normal sword with notebook lines going across it, and it has some scribbles on it too…

What? You get bored hiding out in the guild's air vents all day by yourself…

The computer virus was just regaining his motion when my sword made contact with him, giving him no time to counter or dodge.

"Wha..?" His eyes were wide.

The huge slash caused his body to become covered in paper cuts, he gasped in pain, "What sword is that?..."

I landed swiftly behind him and replied, "Paper sword. Anyone who get's hit gets covered in paper cuts…."

The computer virus sighed, apparently ignoring the pain and blood coming from his paper cuts, because he was walking over to me like nothing happened, "I'll give you that one. A 'Paper sword' is at least more interesting than a 'fire sword'…"

I grunted in reply and glanced at Reo, hoping he would be ready to attack him soon. I can't stall forever.

He was still petrified.

_Come on Reo!_

"However, you do know what beats paper, right?" The virus started to summon something in his hands.

I prepared myself to brace for his attack.

A gigantic pair of scissors appeared in the virus' hands and his eyes narrowed, "Scissors!"

He was using the scissors like sword, and I tried to block his attack without even thinking of requiping.

It was a stupid mistake.

He cut my paper sword in half with one swipe or "cut". I could barely believe he could counter my Paper Sword so easily…

Are my attacks really that simple?...

The computer virus' voice was quickly getting angry again, "For a second, I thought you could entertain me…" his bangs fell in front of his eyes, "…but even some of your most creative swords are boring…"

He started to scream, "I'm going to kill you in the last minute of time you have! You don't deserve to save your friends when all your attacks are so painfully _boring_!"

His arms were raised in the air with huge flaming rock in his hands. I requipped to my water sword in a last ditch effort to safe myself if Reo wasn't fast enough.

It only took one swipe for me to realize that that rock was from the Grease Inferno Mountains, the hottest area in the game exclusive to the Dragon Slayer Levels… The flames are from a grease fire… Water doesn't work on grease fires…

I was unsure if their existence when Ritsu told me one day, but now I know for sure…

_None of my other swords can cut though that rock right now… Well… except level 5… but I don't have enough magic power to handle that at the moment… Level 5 uses just about all of your full magic power in one shot…_

_ You're my last hope, Reo!_

"You're down to 30 seconds!"

I looked over to where Reo was and saw that he wasn't there…

Where did he go?!

The heat from the rock was starting to make me sweat….

I looked around the control room and noticed that some of the controls were missing….

_No way…. Don't tell me that Reo…_

My eyes widened when I realized what Reo was doing while I was distracted fighting….

"10 seconds!"

I turned around to see Reo, behind me, putting the last piece on his most current creation.

It was a hilt cover for one of my swords….

"9!"

"8!"

_He used the computer virus' technology to create a new sword… _

"7!"

Reo screamed to me, "Put this in cover on your magic sword! This should let you cut through the red, game encodements!"

"6!"

Reo threw the cover as hard as his arms could allow, and I requiped to my magic sword.

"5!"

"4!"

I put the cover over my magic sword and saw it change.

The entire sword looked like it was from one of, what Leah calls her "8-bit", levels.

_Woah… _

"3!"

"2!"

"Jason!"

"1!"

The computer virus threw his attack right at me and with the first swipe; my new sword cut threw it easily.

And it cut threw the computer virus with the second….

Right when he was finished saying, "1".

I dropped the sword immediately and fell the ground and Reo ran over to the heat control, "It's going back to normal!"

I smiled and laughed tiredly. _Reo's creativity is amazing… I wouldn't have been able to win this fight if he wasn't here… _

_ Maybe I should try to open up to more people again… _

….

_While all this was going on… With Leah, Ritsu, Hono, and Mia…_

Mia POV

We completely lost Ritsu and Hono while I was following the blonde idiot in front of me….

Seriously, does she have to be _this _reckless and impulsive?

She's lucky I sort of remember this section of the maze when I made my pathway earlier….

And while we're on the topic of the maze, why is it _this _hot here? Come on, I know we're probably underground and all, but this is ridiculous!

_Things just keep adding to my list of annoyances…._

The only reason I'm following this child is because if she goes out and starts a fight with the Question Guy before I get there….

I might have to kill her. I just might have to.

Actually, I'd love it if she doesn't even fight at _all. _

_ Tough luck with Leah though… _

I'll find some way to force her to stay still.

The hall was still pretty dark the further we walked though it, not that it was surprising. The entire maze has had some level of darkness with there being no torches, candles, or windows…

Knowing Leah's intelligence level, I'm not sure she's realized that.

"Man, why is this hall so dark?... It's like this hallway is on a whole new level of darkness compared to the ones I've been in before!"

I growled, "You made your own light out of gravel… I wasn't even _there _and I could figure it through context clues when I saved you earlier! Come on Blondie, you remember what Aiden and Jackson did to you, but you don't remember something as simple as making a light? I always knew you were stupid…"

I couldn't see her face, but she stopped dead in her tracks, "What did you say?..."

I could hear the deadly tone of her voice, I crossed my arms, "I said you were stupid, dummy; how is this any different than usual?"

I suddenly felt a hard punch to my face, "Don't mention Aiden and Jackson!" her voice shook a little, "and I'm not stupid! How could I create this game if I was stupid?!"

The shaking in her voice surprised me. It was almost like Leah was on the verge of _crying_. Leah isn't the kind of girl who cries a lot.

Aiden and Jackson must be affecting her more than I thought… "Why are you letting those two idiots affect you so much? They're no less friends to me and I'm not crying!"

"I'm not crying!" She's definitely crying…

_Great… Am I going to see a sentimental Leah now? _"Why are they affecting you so much, dummy?!" I raised my voice.

"Shut up, I'm not crying!"

_I can't take this anymore! _I went right ahead and punched her in the cheek; hard enough to make her stumble a few steps, "You want something to cry about?! Here's something to cry about!"

Her voice lost its shaking, "You want to start this, Iron Ears?!"

"I don't want to start anything with a girl who's crying when she should be strong and fighting!"

I was glaring at her harshly, "I have no idea why you're acting like this, and honestly, I don't really care, but no rival of mine is going to cry over something this trivial. Friends can and or will betray you, it's part of life!"

Leah didn't return my punch, "Shut up," her voice was irritated but she wasn't screaming.

I crossed my arms and sighed. _I glad that's over with… _

We were walking for at least five minutes and I couldn't even hear Rtisu and Hono's footsteps behind us. A dragon and a Dragon Slayer shouldn't be _this _slow, even after fighting an opponent!

And they still didn't catch us when we reached the door! Geez...

Leah was fixing the completely break the door down, "I'm so ready to do this!"

_Oh no, you're not involved in this Leah…. _

A light silver magic circle appeared in her hands, but I grabbed her wrist before she could do anything, "You think you're involved in this, Blondie?"

I could see her glare because of the light coming through the door, "Yes, I do."

The tension between us was almost starting to excite me, "This is my fight. No one's in it but me and that Question Guy, and I'm completely willing to crush any friends he decides to bring with him. That doesn't include you."

"Don't be a dummy," Leah growled, "One wrong move and you'll die. I don't want to risk that."

I felt a rush of sheer rage, "So you think I'm not capable of taking on this guy by myself?!"

She looked at me like it was obvious, "He already beat you once, and it could easily happen again; you don't even have your full strength."

She is not going there, "If you try stop me, Blondie. You will pay dearly…"

She got up into my face with a dangerous glare, "I don't care _what _you say. No rival of mine is going to throw her life away recklessly."

I returned the glare, "Don't make me have to hurt you, Blondie…"

She didn't even budge, "I'll let you fight…." She gulped, "but the moment you're in trouble, nothing's going to stop me from helping you."

My eyes widened. _Did she just refuse to fight someone?… _

I relented, only because the reckless idiot is clearly doing something that's hard for her.

I'm not that bad at understanding people…

But if Blondie is going to complain about me being reckless… she needs to check her own actions first…

I sighed and faced towards the door. Even though Leah is wrong about me not being able to take this guy, the heat is somewhat of an issue.

I'm starting to feel a little ill, and there's no chance this heat is lightening up soon if it isn't on the other side of this door…

I have no idea why Leah isn't complaining about it right now…

I cuffed my right hand and put it on top of my flat left hand, "Iron Make, Robot Arm!"

A gigantic, cyborg looking arm appeared where my right arm used to be. I aimed right towards the center of the door.

With a light green blast coming from the arm, I busted a huge hole through the door in one shot.

Leah and I jumped into the opening and I immediately locked eyes with the Question Guy.

I felt an evil laugh escape. _You knew this was coming… Question Guy! _

I put my hands in position, with a light green magic circle appearing, and went straight for him, "Iron Make…!"

I stopped in mid-air.

_What the heck?!_

A tired-eyed Makio appeared from behind the Question Guy. I couldn't see any depth in his eyes.

The Question Guy spoke to me in a very flat tone, "What happens to someone when they get too hot and tired? Aren't they easy to manipulate?"

Leah was stuck behind me too, "What the heck did you do to him?!" she screamed, struggling.

"Is it that hard to figure out, blonde one? Heat is affecting both of you right now, am I correct?"

Sweat was falling from both mine and Leah's faces, "What do you think?!" I grunted at him.

The Question Guy pushed Makio forward, "You humans have dreams of your pasts, don't you? Things that haunt you?" the guy pulled a book out of one of his pockets, he quoted, "'Makio Hanzai, an ex-criminal who's father was killed by a mysterious independent guild that targets dark guilds… and who's mother passed away from sickness because his father couldn't afford the medicine…. Forcing their orphaned son into joining a dark guild… stealing to live…' This is correct, isn't it?"

"Archive…" Leah spoke softly.

_So that's where he comes from… _I growled as I struggled to break out of this… force… that's keeping me still, "I don't know with you…. Now get me out of this so we can have a fair fight!"

The guy huffed, "Do you really expect me to do that? Do you not know he's seeing you as the people who killed his father?"

My eyes got small. _What?_

I looked right into Makio's light blue eyes. They looked empty and unusually serious. They were narrowed dangerously.

_You got to be kidding me… _

So Makio's my opponent now too.

Just great….

Makio moved his hand up and down causing both Leah and me to crash into the ground multiple times. The breath was knocked out of me each time.

"Why you…" I screamed while I tried to at least create _something _to defend myself.

Nothing worked…

While Makio kept doing that, I could start hearing the growls of a nearby animal…. And off of Leah's annoying scream, I know she heard it too.

Ugh, why did I let her in here again?

"That sounds like a lion's roar!"

I tried looking into the distance, "A big lion!" I corrected her.

The Question Guy stood motionless, "Aren't there a lot of animals in this space? For example, every species?"

_Ugh! I can't take his freaking questions anymore! _"Would you just shut up?!" I screamed at him at the top of my lungs.

I was already starting to feel dizzy by the time Makio finally stopped banging us into the dirt….

_If I faint this early in the fight..._

Makio's cold eyes went small once he noticed the huge lion coming towards us, "Huh?..."

Then we suddenly dropped.

_I'm not wasting any time! _I put my hands into position, "Iron Make! Robot Army!"

An entire army of huge, metal robot soldiers appeared around me. Leah didn't do anything… Just like she promised.

_That girl just keeps surprising me today… _

Almost every attack the robots did was a direct hit on the guy, but he ended up almost unscaved once all of the dust cleared.

_Just. Who. Is. This. Guy…_

I glanced at where Leah was standing. Even though Leah was backing off of the Question Guy… she still had her hands full with that lion… and the guy didn't even care…

I really don't like this guy…

Once I got into close enough vicinity to the guy, I took my time and punched him hard in the face.

And when he didn't even try to dodge, I did it again.

And again.

And again.

It was actually getting really fun.

Until a giant bird appeared above me…

_Seriously?! _

The bird dove right at me and I tried to counter, "Iron Make! Chainsaw!"

I started hitting at the bird with my chainsaw, but he was really fast for a bird.

Man, I hate this guy…

And then Makio snapped out of his fear…

_Great…. _

Even my chainsaw was frozen in air this time, and Makio made me crash hard into the ground _again_.

What the heck kind of magic does he use again?

Question Guy walked over to me with a face even more blank than Makio's earlier. I tried to force myself off the ground but Makio has significantly more magic power than I do right now…

He's barely fought compared to everyone else…

_While I've already had to fight this guy the first time… _

The guy was standing right next to me while looking down on me, his eyes were blank, "Would I be able to accomplish this without that boy's help?"

Then I suddenly feel a small creature go up my clothes…

Then I felt more and more….

"_Ants_?!" I gasped.

I reflexively kicked and squirmed as I felt burning bites appearing all over my body.

I don't think I've ever screamed louder in my life.

And in front of one of my most hated opponents.

This is a _fantastic _situation…

In all my agony, the Question Guy was still just spouting his questions… "Would you be in this predicament if you let your friend fight with you?"

I reached my arm up from the ground to punch him in the face, but that did nothing,

"Would you be in this much pain?"

It seemed like the pain doubled once he said that.

"Can't you understand that rivals can also be friends?"

I felt sweat not only from the pain but the heat in the room seemed to increase even more…

_The blonde idiot is my friend… Your friends don't always have to fight every one of your battles… Sure there are many things that you can't get over by yourself initially… no… I admit there are many things that are impossible to do yourself, but sometimes challenges are put in your life so you can use your gifts and abilities to overcome them. _

_ So you can grow… _

And this is one of those battles.

"The… Idiot… Is my friend…" I gasped, "but that doesn't mean I need her help right now…"

The bugs still didn't stop.

I jammed my fists to the ground, and I tried to remember _anything _that can get me out of this situation in one piece…

Then something came to me. _Single-handed casting!_

There was definitely something about single-handed casting in one of the Maker Magic textbooks I used to learn my magic!

_Single-handed casting: An unstable form of the original two-handed casting motion that can be used to activate Maker Magic; however, this may result in weaker creations. _

Weaker or not, this is my only option right now. A light green circle appeared on my right hand, "Iron Make! Tank!"

A more or less deformed tank compared to my usual one appeared out of my hand right towards Makio and the Question Guy.

It was a lot slower too…

But it did shock Makio enough to free me from his magic's hold…

I ignored the painful bug bites all over my body and punched the Question Guy on the cheek as hard as I could.

Makio was too busy hiding in a ball from my really bad tank.

_Wow, I'm not entirely sure if he's only thinking of us as the people who killed his father with how fearful he is of things right now… _

_ I'm guessing his nightmare is involving more than just that independent guild. _

"Are you saying that you don't need the blonde one's power to help you? Aren't you aware that she's the leader we were initially allowed to kill?"

Rage went trough me at what he was implying, "I don't need her freaking abilities to help me win a fight I really want to win!"

The bites on my body started to hurt more once the heat managed to increase again.

I gasped in pain again when I huffed. This heat is really starting to make me ill..

The virus walked over to me again with his seemingly endless amount of annoying questions… "Why is that so? Are you so full of yourself that you think you can beat me without even recovering?"

_This virus is getting on my last nerve! _"I told you I don't need her help!"

"Do you now?"

The heat was getting so intense that it was getting hard to see… How has Makio been able to survive this for so long?...

I couldn't think straight.

_Is this what's happening to Makio?... _

Then suddenly I felt rocks crushing my feet causing my breath to catch.

Then I saw something small fly towards my chest.

But then… Nothing happened.

Out of the corner of my blurry vision I saw Leah holding up the lion from before, legs tied up with something that looks like rope.

Makio must have been controlling the rocks and the thing flying towards my chest.

_"I'm going to let you fight… but there's nothing that's going to stop me from helping you if you're life's at risk…"_

The blonde idiot is distracting Makio so I can take out the Question Guy cause my life was at risk…

Too bad I can't really move because of this heat right now…

_This is pathetic! I should be able to beat him no matter what the darn temperature is! _

I can barely even get my thoughts together…

_If this heat gets any worse… I might faint before I get the chance to do anything else!_

And that's exactly what happened. I fell to the ground, and I heard Leah fall to the ground behind me. I could only hear the Question Guy's voice and his bird above me that I forgot was there.

"So this fight is finally over, huh?"


	57. Chapter 56: The Girl I Once Knew

Chapter 56

Mia POV

"So this fight is finally over, huh?"

Those words were sickening… They were nothing more than a bug forcing me to throw up.

And speaking of bugs… Did I forget to mention that my body is still covered in itchy, painful ant bites?

"You wanted to beat me so badly, didn't you?" He bent down to where my face was and looked me in the eyes, "You do know what position you're in right now, right?"

I growled and gulped at the same time. His taunting gave me energy to _attempt _standing up, but alas this freaking heat is making me feel more than ill now.

Leah and I _will _die of heat exhaustion if this heat doesn't go away.

And considering that I can't hear Makio anymore, he'll die too.

_This frustrating computer virus….._

_ No, this frustrating situation…_

_ No, this frustrating game… _

_ No, frustrating Leah for even making this game… _

_ Frustrating! Frustrating! Frustrating! _

I jammed my fists on the ground with the last of my energy and said words that could very well be my last, "You… You frustrating computer virus…"

"You will… never… beat…. me…"

The heat increased again and I managed to loose even more feeling in my body.

"Oh? How is that?"

I sighed softly, "because… I have iron… in my soul…."

"And… nothing can break… iron that's from the soul…"

"Iron in your soul, you say?"

A light green magic circle appeared in my hands, "Iron… Make…"

The circle was starting to fade, "Drill…"

I pushed myself towards him and tried to pierce through him with one last attack.

To my amazement, even though I used single handed casting… My drill wasn't deformed…

_Because I made it out of my own sheer will… _

_ Passion can do wonders… _

My drill broke to pieces once it hit the Question Guy…

But I don't remember anything after that.

….

_In the aftermath of the battle… _

Leah POV

_Get up! _

_ Get up! _

_ Are you seriously going to let yourself pass out when your friend is fighting for your lives, and even when you promised to protect her when things got bad?! _

My head hurts… _Leave me alone… _

_ I'm not going to leave you alone when you're being stupid! _

_ I had to fight a lion… Give me a break… _

_ I am not! Do you think I ever got a break?!_

I giggled despite my headache, _what have you ever done that deserves a break?._

Her grandmother interrupted her, _You're getting too close, child! _

_ Shut up! _

Feeling a lot cooler, I pushed myself up from the ground. It took my eyes a second to adjust,

"What happened?" I scratched my head.

I looked around. The computer virus guy was unconscious on the ground along with Makio…. And Mia was being eaten by a bird…

Wait…

Mia was being eaten by a bird!

I sprinted over to where the bird was and almost tripped while I was at it, I screamed, "Leave her alone, you feathery beast!"

Two silver magic circles appeared in my hands. I placed them on a nearby rock, "Change! Electric net!"

A shocking net, save the tip, appeared in my hands. I threw it at the bird.

He didn't even expect it!

It landed on him perfectly, shocked him a few times, and his codes disappeared, dead.

"Mia…" I looked down at her face, covered in blood from his pecking, "I knew letting you fight this alone was a horrible idea… Look what you did to yourself…"

_She's unconscious Leah… She can't see anything. _

_ Shut up, Voice! _

I growled at the voice in my head. Does she always have to appear at the worst times?

I put my fingers on her neck. Her pulse was soft but still there. It was a resting pulse….

I sighed. _I can't believe I'm being this concerned about Mia but… thank goodness… _

I walked around to where Makio was and noticed that he fell right next to Maylon. I smiled; _fate has it for those two, doesn't it? _

I felt a jolt of anger go through me, _Now that I think about it…_ _Aiden and Jackson… Why did fate lead me to those two?… _

I felt my frustrated tears from before start to come again. _Why?... Why did those two have to cause this?!_

_ You have a part in it. _

My eyes got small.

_If you told everyone what was going on through mind message, none of this would have happened… _

My own voice shook, _Shut up… Voice… _

_ You call me Voice… but I have a name, you know… _

_ Maybe I'll tell you one day… _

_ Why are you even in my head?... _I asked spitefully, but I didn't get an answer.

I sighed angrily and wiped away my tears, _I need to stop this crying… I have to stop Aiden and Jackson, now! _

Shoot… Speaking of Aiden and Jackson…. How much time do I have left?...

Ugh! I don't know!

I put my hands in my hair and messed with it in frustration. I kept working my hair into a rat's nest until I heard Makio's groans beside me, "What happened? Where's Maylon?"

I was growling to myself so much that I didn't even care, "Ugh! Why am I so stupid?! What is the freaking time?!"

"What are you talking about, Leah?" Makio looked at me weirdly.

I turned to him and blushed a little, "Uhh… Nothing! Nothing at all!"

Makio sighed lightly, "I doubt that, but to answer your question I'm assuming we've been down here for about 15 minutes or so."

"15 MINUTES?!" I spit in his face.

_There's no way this fight lasted that long!_

He wiped my spit off his face, "Yeah," he growled, "What even happened anyway? I don't remember anything."

My face softened, "Umm… It's a long story. I'll tell you once Maylon wakes up, you seem to be in a better mood when she's ok."

Makio blushed a little at my statement, "Y-yeah… Whatever…"

I would smile, but I don't have time for that! "Do you know the way out of here, Makio?!"

He shook his head, "No, sorry. Even what happened before I fell asleep is a blur now."

I let my frustrations out for the world to hear, "Ugh! How am I supposed to reach the top floor in 45 minutes when I don't even know how to get there?!"

"Why the time limit?"

"Long story again! I'll explain when this is all over!" I ran towards the door.

"I need to go, Makio! Look after Maylon and Mia for me okay?!"

Makio's face was expressionless, "Whatever you need to beat these guys…"

And then I left the room into the dark maze.

It's sad that I managed to get captured again though…

….

_With Amber and the Blonde Guy… _

Blonde Guy POV

I narrowed my eyes and gulped. I really do have to fight a life or death battle here, don't I?

I hate life or death battles…

Amber's face was already getting dark, "Are you just going to stand there all day, or are you going to fight, you idiot?!"

I gulped again, "R-right! I'll start fighting now!"

Amber launched herself at the guy, "Good! Because I don't want you holding back against this guy!"

Then she whispered so softly that I was the only one who could hear her, "Because I have to hold back myself…"

Her words made my blood go cold. Not only is she mentioning something _very _sensitive about our past, but she's telling _me _to do something that is just as revealing about me!

I just hope she won't kill me for not listening to her…

Amber has some of the most irrational thoughts I've ever seen… and this is including my own…

Not that this has changed a lot…

I covered my body with magic encodements. The encodements that give me super strength, "Crush punch!"

And I cringed at my horrible attack names again…

Amber was already relying on her physical strength rather than her magic. She was attacking Lamen with a slew of fast punches and kicks, which he easily dodged, and I did the same with my strength increased.

He dodged everything.

And I mean _everything. _

Neither of us landed a single hit…

And Amber's sheer physical strength is something to be respected…

We both separated to our respective sides of the battlefield. Lamen's voice was dripping with his creepy level of politeness, "I commend your efforts in trying to hit me, Miss Amber and Mr. Blondie, but as you can see that every effort you are making is futile."

"What do you mean by that?..." Amber was shooting him down with a death glare so scary that it was scaring me half to death without it even being directed at me!

Lamen's face had a wide smirk on it… "I mean that every magic you try to throw at me will be combated with its perfect neutralizer, and I know that you, possesses a kind of magic that can span multiple types…"

His smirk got wider, "It's only polite that you humor me…"

I could tell this guy was getting on Amber's nerves, "Are you trying to tell me that you control such a wide variety of magic that you can counter every attack the idiot and me throw at you? You're over your head…"

Lamen started stepping towards us, "It's not so hard to believe, Miss Amber. But, I would advise you to restrain from calling my abilities _magic_. I am only merely controlling my sections of the game."

_And what sections of the game are those?... _

A reddish magic circle appeared in his right hand… _You just said your abilities aren't magic… but why are you still using a magic circle… _

A magic sword appeared from the magic circle and he threw it up in the air as he charged towards Amber, "Requip: The Blacksmith… Magic Sword Level 2!"

My body went still. _What?!_

Amber's eyes were wide with surprise. She grabbed a nearby lamp to try and defend herself from his attack. The computer virus laughed lightly, "The magic of the swordsman, Jason Fermandez…. Very powerful indeed."

He switched magic again once Amber moved to the offensive with her punches and kicks. He caused plants to come up out of no where… Then he caused weather to appear and change to a light sun to power up his plants more… "Two of the magic types of the Triads… Gary Fullbuster and Julia Fullbuster… So uniquely powerful…"

I could only watch him…. _What kind of ability is this?! _

I snapped out of my daze when I started to see Amber struggle without the aid of her magic; I covered my body with ice magic encodements, "Ice Punching Sequence!"

My names are so bad…

I felt my overall body temperature drop as ice shards fell from my hands and every punch I managed hit Lamen with completely froze a small section of his body.

But he switched magic again; "If you're willing to humor me, Mr. Blondie, answer this question for me… Isn't the magic of Reo Redfox is only a different type of the powerful magic you, Miss Amber, and Miss Leah yield?"

_Even Amber's type is different than Leah and me's… _"I'm pretty sure you can answer that yourself…" I looked away from him.

"So you're not willing to humor me? That's not very polite," he waved a finger in my face before filling it with a heated blast from a gun in his pocket.

My face burned as I was pushed to the ground by the blast. Amber had the same thing done to her a few seconds later…

I rubbed my face and lightly gowned before looking at Lamen again. Amber was fixing to scream at him, but he did another new type of magic that stunned her to silence….

"Iron Make… Ghost…"

Lamen reveled in Amber's reaction… "The Iron Maker Magic of Mia Redfox… It can reflect even the darkest pasts, can't it Miss Amber… Mr. Blondie…"

He laughed evilly, "This is one of the best parts of my control of my game space… The control the players' magic… Every type ever introduced to the game..."

This was the first time I've ever seen Amber shiver, "No… You couldn't of seen that far into our past!"

What was created was a metal copy of someone we knew… A little girl who never aged…

Lamen walked closer to the girl we knew, "It's not polite to keep secrets, Miss Amber…. Mr. Blondie… Luckily, even though Archive can't match you two up with someone in Miss Leah's knowledge of history, The Game can read everything about you… Even your deepest darkest secrets…"

He put an arm around her, "Forgive me for not returning the politeness about my past, but it is needed for it to stay secret."

_How dare you torture her with this image…_ For the first time in forever… I felt real anger fill me…. "Our secrets need to stay secret too… We're no different…"

_The reason why Amber is so stunned…. _

_ The girl we once knew… _

_ The reason why my name is not shared… _

Those secrets need to stay secret until it's save to tell them…

Both Amber and I were about to punch him, for me with the kind of anger that rarely fills me… and for Amber… Instincts that she'd like to forget…

My body filled with some of the most dangerous encodements I've ever created….

Knock Out Magic…

Right when I was about to hit him with my magic… and right before Amber went on a rampage…

The floor caved in where the computer virus was standing…

And Len and Rayna appeared in one of their heated fistfights…

This was so sudden that I forgot my anger...

And Amber's red eye turned back to green…

…

_Finally with Gary and Julia… _

Gary POV

We've been walking so long in the maze that could feel myself get sleepy from boredom…

I yawned. Seriously, how long have we been awake? I like my sleep here!

_And Julia get's to sleep nice and confortable on my back this entire time… _I growled in my thoughts. Sure she beat a computer virus, but it doesn't make me any less envious of her for taking a nap right now!

And it was also so quiet compared to what I'm used to… awake at least…

_Look, Julia may be annoying but… _

Her constant noise has grown on me….

I shook my head. _There's no way in heck I'm ever telling her she's grown on me… _

It seems like out of _all _the hallways we got to choose from. I choose the longest one!

_Just my luck! _

After ten more minutes of walking I couldn't take it anymore. I set Julia down and kicked a rock into the nearest wall. _Why is there so much freaking walking?! _

I huffed and growled loudly, "Can't you get shorter or something?!"

I heard a click after that. I thought the maze was mocking me, "What the heck does that mean?! Can you actually understand my words, huh?!"

I heard the click again. I screamed at the wall again, "Hey!"

In one more second my question was answered… The floor below Julia and me opened.

Just great…

We fell into some sort of container thing with no way up off of what I could see… And even after all of this Julia _still _wouldn't wake up…

_Come on! Julia's the kind of girl that would wake up at 6:30 every morning and enjoy it! Why does she decide not to wake up now?!" _

Then suddenly…

I felt a hand grab my ankle….

And I saw a huge hand grab Julia's face!

"What the heck?!" I gasped.

The hand was holding me upside down. I could feel my blood rush to my head…

A beastly, low voice was coming from the hand holding Julia, "Welcome to our guild's Creation Center..."


	58. Chapter 57: Sticks and Stones

Chapter 57

_With Leah… _

Leah POV

I groaned against my trap. _I can't believe I let myself get captured again! What kind of Fairy Tail wizard am I?! _

The maze was cooler, but no brighter than it was before. I could barely see anything. Not even the very trap I was in…

I started to feel around to try and figure out what this thing could be made of…. But I didn't recognize the texture anywhere.

Until I felt a hand.

A big, scaly hand…

"What the heck?!"

I pushed myself against the "trap" which I'm now more on the end that it's actually a creature…

I was breathing heavily, _I thought we killed all of the remaining computer viruses! Except maybe one or so… But they can't morph into traps, right?!_

After a minute of surprise and panic, something came to me. _I usually create my levels around this spot… Don't tell me that they took over… _

_ They changed my level creation center into some sort of… Virus Creation Center… _

_ That has to be right! How else is this possible?!_

The voice in my head had to comment… _Wow, you're actually right for once. _

_ Shut up, Voice!_

_ You know what, it's going to be amazing when you finally call me by my real name._

_ Why not tell me now if you want me to say it so badly?! _

_ My grandmother won't be happy… _

I growled at her finish to our conversation. If you haven't noticed, they don't usually last long…

_I wish I could figure out who you are… Why you're inside my head… _

I may never get my answer.

A light silver magic circle appeared in my right hand, I curled it into a fist.

"Change! Water!"

A white electricity came from my fist once I punched my trap like monster, followed by a pulse that pushed me into the back of the trap.

My spell was rejected….

Then my memory of magical coding returned to me, and I realized that attack might have been the stupidest ones I've ever thought of.

My game is still taken over by those red codes…

My Change Spell apparently doesn't work well on creatures created from these codes…

Darn it…

_It might have been a good thing that I couldn't fight that boring computer virus… _

I've been trapped at least a couple of times before this, but this might have been the most well set up trap for me ever.

It doesn't nullify my magic, yet it keeps me from using my main spell.

Leaving it to tempt me the entire time I'm stuck in here...

I grabbed one of the stringy, scaly legs and shook it in sheer frustration. _Why?!_

Suddenly I felt one of the legs touch me with a motion that felt like…

Writing?

I flinched and tried to shove it away as soon as I felt it, but nothing I did could get it to stop. All I was doing was probably messing up its writing.

Then the scales that covered the monster's legs started to glow a blue color, allowing me to see the writing.

_This is all your fault._

_ You could of done something._

_You murdered all these children. _

_ You monster…_

Each time the text changed into something even more terrifying. It got so bad that I had to look away, but the blue light somehow lured me into looking anyway.

People say that "sticks and stones may break your bones, but words will never hurt you."

It was this that showed me that those people were wrong.

…..

_With Gary and Julia…_

Gary POV

I don't know long this hand was keeping me upside down, but I was starting to feel dizzy…

I growled at the beast, "Let me go…. And let go of my sister!"

"I have no desire to do that. I am made by one of Lamen's three game sections."

"What does that have to do with anything?!"

"The goal of Lamen is to destroy the game and the Fairy Tail members inside," the beast's voice sounded like a computer, "he is different than the other computer viruses."

"He seems more like a normal person to me…" my voice was low, "all of the computer viruses, except him, want to destroy the game and _Leah _is the only particular person they mention. Aiden and Jackson didn't want to destroy our whole guild…"

_They won't make it another day if they try… _

_ I'll make sure of that…_

The beastly creature didn't respond to me, _If I stay upside down much longer, at least a couple of these monsters are going to pay dearly…_

I stared at my sister, head still being squeezed by the creature. _And if they harm my sister at all… They'll have to pay more than dearly…. _

The creature tightened his grip on my sister's head; I couldn't hear a single groan from her. Every muscle in my body tightened, "Let. Go. Of. My. Sister. Don't make me ask you again!"

The creature didn't listen to me; "You seem so protective of her now, when you usually just push her away."

He better not be saying what I think he's saying… "What?" I growled.

"Off of the Archives, she's one of the most affectionate people in the game, and they say you constantly reject these affections."

I growled slightly in memory. _Julia does have a habit in waking me up at the worst times… And she does have the habit of going overboard with everything… _

Is there anything she inherited from Dad?

….

I can't really think of anything but her eyes…

"Even now you're thinking of the times she's annoyed you," the scaly creature continued.

I flinched, surprised. _Can this guy read my mind?... _

"Portions of the Archive exist down here rather than on the second and top floors. There's not a moment where new information leaves our minds. It is necessary for our creation."

I shook against the hand holding me still. I said if they hold me like this much longer then they're going to pay dearly. It's time to pay….

"Ice Make Vine!" a long, whip-like vine appeared in my right hand. I wrapped it around the wrist of the hand holding me and made it squeeze as tight as possible.

After a few seconds of squeezing, nothing happened.

I clinched my teeth and growled, _Why isn't this working?! _

"We work differently than the viruses you seem to know," the beast's voice was flat, "We respond to your emotions, not magic."

I struggled some more, "Not that I'm really understanding you, but you sure explain a lot for a computer virus who's trying to kill me…"

"My job is to explain, the others down here will tell you nothing."

The creature's grip tightened against my ankle and I winced. Then I chastised myself quietly, "My sister beat a virus alone, and I can't even manage to free myself…"

"Those negative emotions… Those are what will kill you…"

"You have no right to be telling me about _negative emotions_! You're causing enough of them yourself!"

"Why should that matter? There's rarely a time your sister thinks of things negatively."

I huffed and slightly giggled in anger, _hah, were any of her tantrums ever implanted as 'new information' in that head of yours?_

"We have no record of that."

I cringed, _that creepy mind reading thing again… It gets on my nerves…_

This beast is already past being on my bad side, "So you have no access to that? Must be too old for you!"

"You are likely correct since I have no recalling of it," the beast's voice started to sound electronic again.

I was really starting to feel the dizziness I felt earlier. Mom would always chastise me for lying with my head upside down… I'm guessing this is the reason why…

I clinched every muscle in my body to try and get my head upright, but the hand wouldn't let me. _Darn hand! _

"If you don't hurry and get positive, you _will _pass out due to your blood rushing to your head."

"Don't you think I already know?!" I screamed at the creature.

"Of course I do, It's just my job to explain."

"I know that!" I growled.

A hand started to draw on my bare stomach; my shirt was bunched up against my shoulders. It annoyed me. _This… This is why I hate shirts… _

On a normal day they don't bother me _this _much… but when they get all bunchy, hot, or cold, I'm taking it off.

The heat this maze had must have made me delusional because I would of taken it off a _long _time ago if I wasn't.

I was pretty annoyed while I was walking… maybe that was why.

The creature's hand tickled my stomach, so I couldn't help but let a little giggle escape.

I kept much more giggle from coming and I tried to see what the creature was writing on my stomach.

It said, _trial of your mind. _

…..

_With Amber, blonde guy, Len, and Rayna_

Blonde Guy POV

Both Amber and I watched stunned as we watched what could be a fight to the death…

Well… I wouldn't be surprised if one of them was trying to kill the other…

I'll never understand why people want to kill things…

"Oh you think I'm the cause of our hall being long, _Len_?"

"Yeah! You're the cause of everything annoying in my life!"

"Well, it's mutual!"

I glanced worriedly at Amber… Her eyes were twitching with so much anger that I'm sure she'll explode in the next five seconds…

5, 4, 3, 2, and…

1.

And she exploded… "This isn't the time to be trying to kill each other, you _idiots_!"

They stopped mid-attack. Rayna with a dagger and Len with her body turned into a jelly-like substance…

Len looked around, "When did we get here?..."

Rayna did the same, "Were part of their fight now."

"How do you know?!"

Rayna's voice was calm, "I'm good at observation."

Len grunted, "I'll give you that one… Maybe."

"Well… Well… Look who decided to join us…" Lamen's voice had an evil laugh.

Len and Rayna gave Lamen their attention, "Are we fighting that guy?" Len had her eyes narrowed.

Her eyes… They look different than I thought they were earlier…

Earlier I thought they were a dark green color, but actually they're close to black.

Just like my… my brother's…

_Don't tell me… _

I glanced at Amber and gave Len a look with my eyes wide. Amber sighed and gave me a look that I knew meant, _we'll talk about this later… _

I grunted slightly. This isn't really something I want to talk about later…

"I see… You're Mrs. Len and Miss Rayna of the Shooting Star guild…"

Rayna narrowed her eyes, "Given that we've been walking through a maze this entire time… How do you know where we're from?"

"The Archives miss. We have every single bit of your history collected a few nice little spots."

Just knowing that he knows my history makes me sweat a little….

Rayna pulled out a dark, empty dagger and filled its capsule with a yellow liquid. She threw it so quickly that it made me jump…

But Lamen just smiled…

His body started to change into the liquid that makes up Len's body when she uses her magic… _So… So he really can use any magic he wants that's in this game…_

The dagger went right over his head, and I could still see his now liquid smile…

Rayna couldn't believe her eyes… I could tell… "What?... That's Len's magic… She's the first person I've ever seen with that magic!"

Lamen giggled, "One of my game sections, Miss Observant. I control the game's magic, as well as a couple of other little things."

I could see the sweat on both Len and Rayna's faces, Len turned to me, "How are we supposed to beat him?..."

Not only does her sheer presence make me flinch now, but her statement didn't help with the layer of fear hiding in me, "That's what we're trying to figure out…" I replied as calmly as I could.

Her face got tight, "Well that's great…"

Amber growled and charged at the computer virus, barehanded. It was hard to see what codes he was using because of how many he had… so I couldn't really see what Amber was up against.

She can probably tell much better than me to be honest…

Lamen was effortlessly dodging her with speed I haven't seen him use before; it kind of looked similar to the kind I can use…

Then he suddenly pushed her back with a wave of force, "Force magic… Makio Hanzai's specialty…. Magic created from his past…"

Amber grunted and regained her bearings. My voice was serious, "You alright?"

Amber's voice was frustrated, "I'm fine. Do you really think something like that can kill me? You've seen me go through worse yourself."

I gulped. I sure have…

Len took her turn at trying to hit the virus. Her arms grew in length and became jelly like in substance. Lamen was having a difficult time dodging it.

Eventually he just changed himself into a wall, "Wall Magic…"

_That exists?..._

That polite tone never left Lamen's voice, "A lot of the magic in this game is from Earth wizards, who have to use their magic in secret, because it's not believed to exist in their world. Strange types are not that uncommon."

I was too stunned with Lamen's ability at first to fight properly. It's a bad habit of mine if my opponent surprises me too much…

I covered my body with strength encodements and did my best to try and land a hit, but Lamen's speed level matched my strength level. He would get an occasional hit on me while I would always miss.

Also I know for sure that he's using…

"In your _impolite _anger against me earlier Mr. Blondie," his voice sounded harsher and more evil, "you've reminded me of a certain ability you can use…."

I was already a ways away when he said that, so I didn't fully brace myself, "One of your strongest techniques…."

"Knock out magic…"

He set his sights towards Rayna while all of us were trying in vain to defend her fast enough, but Rayna handled herself better than we ever could.

She stabbed him with the yellow liquid filled dagger from earlier before he could land a hit.

Her voice was soft as she fell, "You… fight… like a child…"

_He fights like a child?_

"You know… He hasn't really attacked once since Rayna and me got here, until now… And he just charged without thinking about it..." Len wondered out loud.

"Is that what she means by 'you fight like a child?'" I asked.

The look on Len's face bothered me, "I may be oblivious most of the time… and bad at cooking… but I know Rayna well. I can usually understand what she implies. That's what she means by it."

Amber was glaring at the floor with more sweat on her face than I'd like for her to have… "He may fight like an idiot and a child, but that doesn't hide the fact that he can counter every magic we through at him," she sighed, "and since he's at least _part _computer virus, I'm not sure if my magic will work on him…"

She's troubled… I can see it in her eyes…

"What should we do about it then? And… what is your magic anyway?" Len's voice had no fear, only a little curiosity.

I couldn't even see Amber's eyes now, "You'll see, and about my magic, I can only tell you that involves the mind."

Worry started to fill me. Amber can use more than one kind of magic… but her other type… is um… a little different per se…

I saw no questioning in Len's eyes, "Well go ahead and do it! The faster we beat this virus the better, and I've been in that hall _way _too long with Rayna not to have a good fight.. Or at least do something useful!"

I could almost hear guilt in Amber's voice… "It's going to start in a few seconds…"

Lamen set his eyes on Amber and laughed, "This is what happens when you're impolite… You get kicked out!"

It was like everything was moving in slow motion. Right before Lamen could hit Amber… Amber grabbed Len's wrist and pushed her in front of herself.

Causing Len to take the hit instead of Amber…

I stood still, mid-step. Sheer shock filled me, "What… W-what are you doing Amber?!"

Sweat was falling from Amber's face now, and some drops I questioned being tears. She was dead quiet and let Len fall at her feet.

Even Lamen himself was in shock. He didn't do anything but stand there.

Amber spoke, her voice shaking, a few seconds later, "There's only one way I can think to beat you… and they're not stupid enough to understand it."

My eyes widened further when I realized what she was about to do. _Amber… It's not worth the risk..._

Amber's right eye turned red…"You wanted an answer to your question, and I'll only reveal this much to you… only because I see no other option."

"What you're about to see is one of the reasons why we don't show up in that Archive of yours…"

"And this is all you'll get to see."


	59. Chapter 58: Like a Child

Chapter 58

_With Amber, the blonde guy, Len, and Rayna_

Blonde guy POV

_ Amber's going to use that?... What is she thinking?…._

Amber's body started to change as the virus spoke to her, "Forgive my impoliteness, but no matter what you use I can send it right back at you."

Amber was slowly starting to look less like Amber…. "You're not stupid enough to try and use this magic back on me…."

Lamen's eyes widened, intrigued, "Oh really? It's about time you finally be polite and give me a good fight," he laughed lightly, "even though your words are still false…"

"Which isn't very polite at all."

My body was shaking as I watched her, _He has no idea what he's getting himself into…._

"I remember Leah mentioning something about there being one rule to this tournament in her announcer's instructions…." Amber walked slowly, "it mentioned a certain type of magic, didn't it?"

Lamen smiled arrogantly in response to her words, "So… You're implying that you use magic cloaked with darkness? What an interesting development…."

"Even though that's still illegal in this tournament like you mentioned…. Not very polite there…"

Amber's head was tilted to the side, "You messed up the tournament yourself, _idiot_. The whole thing is in turmoil. This rule doesn't matter anymore…"

Amber's voice was quieter, like she was choosing her words carefully.

And for the first time, I saw a little sweat appear on Lamen's face….

Honestly if I was in his shoes I would be sweating too….

I saw anger in his eyes a few seconds later though….

"Well, I still have a whole _arsenal _of magic to use against you." Lamen turned away and some of his formality dropped.

His face got darker, "And your situation got even worse by calling me an idiot… _Very _impolite…"

Amber started to run, silently, and scratched him on the face while he was still talking, drawing blood. He stopped mid-sentence and stared at her wide-eyed. Amber's red eye was boring into him.

I could tell by her posture that she was telling him, _drop all these antics and fight you idiot, you have someone who can actually kill you now. _

Lamen took a few steps back and his eyes narrowed and got wide again like he realized something. He got into a fighting position looking down.

I stared at him wide eyed; _Why does he look serious about this all the sudden?... _

He brought his hands out, palms down, and a gray magic circle appeared.

His skin started to darken and black smoke started to come from it. His hands changed into pointed claws that looked like a dragon's, and he gained a fox's tail that was black and white. His face and ears became more pointed and his eyes became neon green.

"The little boy who this magic belongs to never came up with a name…" his voice sounded like a beast's, "but it allows him to transform himself into the 'monsters under his bed.'"

"If you're going to fight me with the magic you have… It's only polite I give you a proper target…"

_Little Misfit's master, one of the few who actually have unique magic…._

"Don't mock me…. I'm disgusted with myself for even using this."

Her body was tense like she remembering something unpleasant, and I could hear her gulp from here.

I gulped myself and looked away from what was happening for a second, _I can easily understand why she would be feeling unpleasant…._

Amber and Lamen charged at each other and started attacking fiercely. Lamen's fighting style looked less careless than before… Like he was actually trying…

Rayna said he fought like a child…. Did she mean that he was being careless?

I looked at Amber's movements and then back at Lamen's movements. Amber's looked way more fluid and experienced, but Lamen seemed to have more sheer power. Lamen would get the upper hand by just pushing her back, but Amber would get the upper hand by attacking him when he left himself open….

Actually, Lamen charged a lot while he fought…. Like he didn't have any sort of plan to his movements…

I have no idea what that means…. I taught myself how to fight….

Black smoke started coming from Lamen's hand, like it did during his transformation, until it covered the room like some kind of fog. I coughed as it entered my lungs….

_I'm going to get sick from this, aren't I?…._

Well my life isn't going to be happy for a couple of weeks….

The fog began to get so bad that the entire room looked black. I couldn't see either of them. _This stuff is just like what came out of that door in that hall we were in…_

"How impolite of _me_ to make it so dark you can't see…. What are you going to do about it?" It seemed like Lamen's voice echoed through the dark fog.

Suddenly I felt a presence behind me and I jerked to face it.

But I couldn't really do anything because I couldn't see it….

A scratch ripped across my body, causing a large, bloody, mark to appear anywhere skin was shown, and a large scratch-mark cutting my shirt. I groaned loudly and clinched my face… My face was the most painful….

"This is what happens when you impolitely not help your friend…."

I glared at him, surprised and slightly angry. I didn't have any words for him.

But the sound of Amber's voice was a lot angrier than my glare…. "Did you even take into _consideration _that I have the ability to see in the dark when I use this magic?" her growl sounded inhuman, "and you use whatever opening you thought you had on attacking my _friend_? You're beyond an idiot…"

She screamed at him, "This isn't something I'm going to let you get away with!"

I couldn't see anything, but I could hear Amber starting to _easily _get the upper hand….

I've never seen Amber with this kind of anger… I don't like it…

It's the kind of anger that can kill someone….

"I can hear your thoughts of trying to figure out some kind of magic that can counter me…" Amber's voice had the deadly tone that I was afraid of, "you better hurry up or you'll run out of time…"

_This isn't the Amber I know…. _

I saw a couple of light silver magic circles appear where Lamen's hands would be allowing me to see him. _Is he trying to modify Amber's magic?..._

Lamen giggled evilly, "It's impolite to be so cocky Miss Amber…. Mr. Blondie has some other uses for his magic!"

_He'll kill himself if he tries to use this on Amber…. _

I was about to run and stop him before Amber's words stopped me, "That won't work on me…. The idiot's magic isn't designed to deal with this…."

Her voice got a little lower, "I'm _sure _you know what I mean if you've seen our past."

Lamen tried a little longer but stopped suddenly. The fog was clearing enough that I could see his face,

It looked innocent for a second, just like a child's….

_"He fights like a child." _

Amber prepared a killing blow while he was still stunned, "It's time to answer our question, and this will force you too…."

_I can't let this happen…. I can't watch someone die…._

Without thinking I ran to where Amber was standing and held her in a strangle hold, blushing, just as she was about to attack, "Don't do this Amber! Is it really worth it to end a life?!"

Amber looked at me, surprised and red eye full of anger, "What are you _thinking _you _idiot_?! The point of this is to _kill _the viruses to save the game!"

My blush got fiercer the longer we were like this…. "You know I'm not usually good at doing this… but I'm pretty sure he's less virus than you think, Amber…"

"Rayna mentioned he 'fought like a child', remember? I think he's just like another player in the game!"

One glare was all I needed to tell me that her mind was as inhuman as her body was, "Why does that matter?!"

I tried in vein to keep her back as long as I could, "You'd be using your powers to kill a _human!_"

Amber froze against me. It was like all the tension from before just disappeared.

Then she hit him in the neck, light enough not to kill him, but to cause him become weak. He was weak enough that he'd answer any question we ask him…

Darker hair covered Amber's eyes, "What are your three game systems?"

_That wasn't the question…._

Lamen looked human-like again, but his hair was getting slightly lighter and shaggier. His build was getting a little smaller too… His voice was quiet, "They are…."

"Magic…"

"Creation Center…."

"And Death Setting…."

…..

_With Gary and Julia while Amber and the blonde guy were fighting…. _

Gary POV

I woke up in some place _completely _different than that Creation Center I was in…..

There were pink and yellow clouds… Mountains that looked like they were made of candy… Flowers that were…. Umm… There…. Animals with hair that looks exactly like mine….

What the heck kind of world is this?!

I stood, mouth open, speechless. _What the heck did this monster do to me?! Is this some kind of dream?!_

Words started to be written in the yellow dirt by something (I'm assuming the monster….), they said, _this isn't your dream. It's your sister's…._

_ Good luck getting out of here. _

Once I finished reading the last sentence it felt like something inside me broke, "I'm. In. My. Sister's. Dream?..."

"NO WAY!"

I ran to the nearest tree and started to mope to myself. _There's no way this is happening. There's no way this is happening. There's no way this is happening…._

A monkey that looked a little too much like me hung down with its tail and got right into my face. He started speaking like it was normal… "You shouldn't mope here! This is a place of happiness!"

"What the heck?!" I jerked back and fell on my butt, "Since when can a monkey _talk_?"

"You live with talking, flying cats. What's weird about a monkey talking?" The monkey's voice sounded like my sister's, and it sounded _really_ innocent…

"Shut up… How do you know I live with talking cats?" I growled.

The monkey giggled, "Why else do you think I look like you?"

"Monkey likes learning about interesting people that appear here!"

I was sweating so much you'd believe I'd ran the endurance race today…. And what's worse even more animals came….

One was a dog… "You want me to show you around? Dog likes helping out people!"

I'm going to have nightmares if I make it through this…

Also, why does every animal look like me?….

"Why should I take any help from some strange animal that looks too much like me?..."

His voice sounded too Julia-like and chipper… "You want to get back to wherever you came from right? Come with me! Please?!"

He started painfully scratching against my leg, "Fine! I'll go, but only because you're annoying and I want to get out of here!"

Why… Why are they so much like Julia?,… "Yay! Dog happy! I'm going to get some of my friends!"

_Friends?..._

I put my hands in my hair; _I can't take any "friends" right now!_

The dog started to walk away and along with him at least a dozen of almost exact look-alikes followed him. He barked to me, "Come on! Let's get going!"

Ugh… This is just like Julia waking me up in the morning, isn't it….

The dogs ended up showing me around Julia's entire dream world and I found _nothing _to help me get out. The only thing I got is what seemed like an eternity of annoyingness!

They asked so many freaking questions….

"What's your name? Dog wants to know your name!"

"Why do you look like us? Dog wants to know why you look like us!"

"How did you get here? Dog wants to know how you got here!"

"What do you think of us? Dog wants to know what you think of us!"

"Tell us!"

"SHUT UP!" I screamed at them at the top of my lungs. _I-I can't take this anymore! There has to be some way to get me out of here!_

_There are way to many Julias for me to handle! _

Once the dogs managed to lead me to a certain point in the world, a forest, I lost what little sanity I had left…

"Would you just leave me _alone_?! I don't need your help anymore!" I bent down on the ground, attempting to contain myself.

All the dogs stared at me blankly, "What do you mean you 'don't need our help anymore?'"

I glared at them, "I want to get away from me. Come on, you've never heard that phrase before?"

"Get away from you?..."

I made my voice sound more exasperated than I actually was, "_Yes_."

The dogs started crying _way _too much for a dog once they took the few seconds for my answer to sink in, "Dogs like helping Gary!"

Their wails were so high-pitched that it hurt my hears, and much to my horror, the entire dream space changed dramatically with their reaction.

_Don't tell me that this dream reacts to their emotions like Julia's magic does… _

This is bad.

This is _really_ bad.

I jerked around to watch the space change. The fairly normal looking trees turned a bluish black and the leaves disappeared. The grass turned the same color while all the flowers died completely. The sky turned into a dark, nighttime sky with a crescent moon with clouds that partly obscured it.

I heard words start to be written into the ground, _Congratulations, you have officially turned your sister's dream into a nightmare. _

_ Good luck surviving. _

"I don't need you to tell me that!" I clinched my teeth with a…. _Slight _bit of fear… at the now vicious looking dogs that looked like they wanted to eat me alive…

I'm definitely not terrified…

Nope…. No way….. Not at all…

I stepped back and put my right fist on top of my left hand, "Ice Make! Thorny Vines!"

Thorny vines appeared out of the ground and towards the dogs, disabling only a couple of them….

More kept coming…. Way more than what helped me earlier…..

I looked around frantically for a source of water, _Shoot… Is there any water in this darn dream?! _

I felt one of the dogs start to gnaw on my leg, it hurt like heck….

I felt blood tickling down my leg, "Get away from me, you freaking monster!"

I tried in vein to yank the dog away from my leg, but no matter what I did he hung on tight… _Mother will kill me if I get some sort of disease from this…. _

Green magic circles started to appear in my right and left hands with my palms facing upward. I pulled my arms back and then pushed them forward, causing the grass underneath my feet to harden and shoot up into the sky. They were taller than me by the time I was done.

The dog that was hanging on my leg had his paw impaled with my grass blade, with ten or more behind him being in a similar situation.

I huffed and winced at the stinging pain in my leg. _That took a lot more magic power than it should of…. It had resistance that shouldn't be there… _

The grass turned green again while I was using it, but right after I was finished with it, it turned back to its blackish blue color.

I stared off into the distance and saw what looked like an entire army of now… _scary_… looking animals… They weren't just dogs either. _Every _kind of animal you could ever think of was in that horde….

I ran over to the nearest tree and climbed up it for two reasons, to find higher ground, and to fully see what I was up against.

It was even worse than I thought.

It was _twice_ the size of an army…

My eyes widened with fear I wouldn't be afraid to admit now, I tried to think of a any sort of spell that could wipe out that scale of animals.

_Poisonous gas? That would kill me along with everything else…_

_ Thorns? The plants give me too much resistance to use enough… _

_ Holes? The ground would probably case at least as much difficulty as the vines earlier…. _

_ Water magic? That would be nice, but there isn't a body of water even close to me right now!_

_ Ice Make Magic? I would run out of power before I'd be able to kill half these animals!_

_ There's nothing I can use! Nothing!_

I growled at my situation. If I'm going down here, it's not happening without a fight…

And I'm not even exactly saying I'm going down….

There's just a high possibility.

I jumped as far from the tree as I could and landed right in the middle of the animal army, I prepared my Ice Make Magic, "Ice Make…." My voice was harsh, "Oak Forest!"

Several oak trees started to erupt from the ground, either flinging portions of the animals into the air or stopping them in their tracks.

I huffed again and started my next attack, "Branch Sword!"

I felt even more resistance than before, but I managed to cause wooden branches to come from my ice trees. I tried to control them long enough that I could at least wipe out a portion of the animals, but I was overestimating myself.

It really hurt to admit that to myself….

I only took out about thirty of them by the time I knew my magic power was too low to cast any more spells, much less keep that attack going much longer.

They may be animals, but I have to admit that they're tough…

My bitten leg started to feel numb to the point I couldn't feel any more blood escaping. Eventually, the numbness spread to the rest of my body thanks to my lack of magic power.

I'm going to die quickly if I don't do something fast...

_This isn't very noble… but I have to escape…. _I looked around for any form of escape, but the army had worked its way through the forest, leaving me in the center of a circle.

My eyes widened and I felt sweat drip from my face, _There's no way out! I have no choice but to stand here! _

_ Just my luck! _

The animals were advancing quickly. If I was going to make any sort of last minute plan, that was the time…

But I had nothing….

The animals started to stampede over me to where my hand was the only thing left visible. The pain of their hooves, claws, and paws was worse than anything I'd felt before, and that wasn't including the painful feeling of letters being burned or written right onto my skin….

My pride was almost completely shot at that point…

Almost….

By the time I could manage to see the words on my arms, one of my eyes was already knocked out by one of the animals. This made them extremely difficult to read, but I could barely make them out…

_Mhat…. No… What…. Is that a b or a d? Umm… I think it says brother… All the rest looks like borderline gibberish… _

_ "Gary wouldn't ever not need my help! This… This is…" _

I could almost feel her betrayal in my own mind, _So me talking to those dogs was the same as me talking to my sister?! What kind of sick monster is this?!" _

I felt more words being written on me,

_This is your trial, you need to deal with your sister seeing your true self… _

Within my mind, responded back as angrily as I could, _When am I ever hiding myself from her?!  
_

_She needs to see what she's always feared…. _

My eyes widened once I barely comprehended his last sentence, _"See what she's always feared?" _

_ Does this mean… Does this mean I have to apologize to my… to my sister to save myself?..._

I was slightly surprised I could even think clearly enough at that point, _No way… There's no way I can do that! _

_ She's wines too much for an apology! _

A hoof jammed into my bad harder than before, it was almost like it went through my back instead of stomping on it.

_I-I won't last much longer… _

The growls from the animals started getting louder once I started struggling with apologizing to my sister… _D-don't tell me she's having one of those dreams where she knows extra information about people…. _

_ That means she knows my struggle…. _

_ That's great… Just great… _

"J-Julia…" my voice was weak and hoarse, "Come on…. You're not like this… You're not actually going to _kill _your own brother, are you?..."

Even my voice had some frustration and betrayal in it.

The stampeding of the animals lessened slightly.

"What would Mother and Father think if we died?…"

The stampeding lessened some more.

"Would Mother cry if she saw you right now? Would even Father cry?..."

It lessened even more.

I started to be able to think of memories of Julia and I's arguments when we were younger… Before our parents were put to into endless nightmares…

_"She's just a winy, spoiled brat!" I screamed with a finger pointed towards my older sister, "She's supposed to be more mature than me, but look at her!" _

_ Mother was comforting a six-year-old Julia, who was crying heavily, "Juvia isn't pleased with your attitude Gary." _

_ "Who cares, Mother?! You can't spoil her like this!" _

_ Mother's voice was threatening, "No child of Juvia and her beloved Gray-sama is going to yell someone else like that just because he thought she was annoying him!" _

_ Father was on a job, so he didn't get much of a say in this, but Mother knew he'd probably have an even harsher reaction than she did. _

_ Julia cried even harder at my angry words, "Gary… Gary doesn't like me!" _

_ I started to feel a little guilty at that point. But there was no way I'd apologize to my sister… "Julia won't stop crying until you apologize Gary," Mother's voice was suddenly softer, "Do it for Juvia… Please…." _

_ After that I apologized, horribly, to my sister for the first and only time._

Two phrases from the memory stuck with me, _"She won't stop crying until you apologize" _and_ "Do it for Juvia… Please…" _

I took in as much air as my lungs would allow and bit the bullet, _I have no other choice…. _

_ It'll save my life, and it would make Mother and Father proud… _

"Ju-Julia…" I started, "I'm… I'm sorry… I'll always appreciate your company and help, so don't worry…"

That was the second time I've ever apologized to my sister.

And it was the time that not only saved my life, the lives of a million or so players, but was also my ticket out of her dream.

It was kind sad that I was more freaked out with what I woke up to rather than what I had experienced there….


	60. Chapter 59: Leah vs Aiden

Chapter 59

_With Gary and Julia… _

Gary POV

I woke up to me laying on an almost endless pile of dead monsters; my sister was beside me. _Did I do all of this while I was unconscious?..._

My question was answered when I saw one of the most…. Contorted… faces I've ever seen…..

I don't think contorted even really did it justice….

Waves of magic power were coming out of Leah's body and tears were falling to the ground from her face. I could hear noticeable growls and there was a hole above her head with the dead limbs of some monster thing...

I called to her, my shock leaving me a little breathless, "Leah! What the heck happened to you?!"

The waves of magic power disappeared once she heard my voice, "Gary?..." She quickly wiped the tears from her eyes, "…Is Julia with you?"

Her voice echoed in the room like it was empty. I put Julia on my back and jogged over to her as fast as I could; Leah's eyes seemed raw when I looked into them. _What the heck_ happened?...

Even though her crying had stopped, Leah seemed to barely be able to contain herself, "I-I need to get to the top of this building, fast."

"What? Why?" I asked, almost aggressively.

_I don't care who it is; I don't handle crying well. Thanks to Julia… _

She picked up a piece of stone and gave me one of the most vague answers I've ever heard from her, "One minute. I only have one minute."

"What the heck do you mean you only have one minute?! Since when did we have a time limit here?!"

_After the heck I just went through, I don't need any more surprises… _

She ignored my questions and changed the piece of wall into some strange object that looked like a gun…

I don't like where this is going….

It blasted a large beam right up into the hole above us until I could see the game's sky. I looked at Leah wide eyed, _What's with you? No one would use an attack with that much power unless something really bad has happened…. _

"Leah," my voice was serious, "You're not acting right. Are you okay?"

She looked at me as if that would give me my answer. _How on earth does that help me, Leah?! _

She changed another piece of… whatever this building is made out of, into some sort of hover boots and went flying up into the hole like I'm not here.

I sighed and adjusted Julia on my back. Luckily for me, going into Julia's dream didn't really drain my real body's power despite what happened when I faced those animals… so getting out of here won't be too hard.

_I can't believe I had to apologize to my sister… _

I almost want to throw up when I think of that fight…

I growled and put my right hand over my left, "Ice Make, Vine Staircase!"

After that staircase was created, began my long... painful journey of finding everyone else.

…..

_With Leah, still before the blonde guy, Amber, Rayna, and Len defeated Lamen. _

Leah POV

Words cannot express the sheer anger and pain I'm feeling right now. No matter what I think I can't put it into words.

Let's just say I'm angry and hurt enough that I'm completely willing to waste a lot of my magic power on finding… that… that… _person_.

Honestly I don't even think _person _accurately describes him now.

And with Ren's life on the line in less than a minute, I'm tired of taking chances.

I'm doing this myself, what I should have been doing done all along.

I growled without thinking, _who takes 29 minutes to get out of someone's dream?_

I flew right up to the top room, which was like a huge open space, which now thanks to me has a great, big hole in it. Something I don't regret in the slightest.

I stood right next to the hole. I glared and looked around the space. It wasn't too much different than my control room disregarding the size. It had a red globe near the hole, the side was even scaved from my attack. The walls were made of a white metal that was tiled and separated with gray columns with about ten blocks or so in between them. Some of the columns had wires dangling down from the ceiling, sparking away.

The only thing that was different was the presence of someone who I admit, despite my former feelings for him; I have grown to _hate_.

I turned around to see him looking right at me, eyes calculating, smirk aimed right at me.

I punched him into the wall without even thinking about it.

Dust from the wall covered him for a few seconds before he really got to see the sheer anger on my face, and I got to see the disgusting, upset form of his.

He wiped the debris from his face and growled slightly, "Well you certainly know how to make an entrance Leah."

My teeth were grinding for a few seconds before I got enough sense to reply, "You should have expected that much," my voice was a low growl, "_Aiden_."

He put his hands in his hair and sighed, trying to get the rest of the debris out, "I have a lot I want to tell you, and it took you _long enough_ to get here."

_I've heard enough of your "words"…._

And I hate to inform you," he smiled as he snapped his fingers showing a screen of Jackson, "but your final minute is up."

_He's supposed to be here! _My eyes were wide with horror that my voice mimicked when I said, "No…."

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no, _no_!"

Jackson looked sinister as he held the tiny lacrima that held Ren inside, "Well it's time Leah. I'm sorry, but I was serious about the deal I gave you earlier. Ren dies in one hour."

His hand started to squeeze around the lacrima, causing it to crack.

I ran towards to the screen, as if my actions could do anything.

He squeezed again and the lacrima cracked more.

I punched the holographic screen but I went right through it.

Pieces started to break off.

And those words started to come back to me.

_Useless. You're nothing but useless._

_ You can't even save the people, _

_ Dying all around you. _

_ There was only one thing you could do. _

_ And you already gave it up. _

_ This is your fault. _

_ You're a monster. _

I felt my body go cold again once I remembered those last words again, _you're a mass murderer. _

Ren is going to die…. Ren is going to die along with everyone else I clam to be a leader over.

What… What kind of leader am I?...

I looked down, defeated, and so numb that I couldn't even feel my tears hitting the floor. All I could do was hear them.

I heard Jackson do a little evil laugh before fixing to do the final squeeze. But…

I never heard it break.

"I'm tired of everyone treating me like a _child!"_

I looked up to see Ren. Tiny, little, seven-year old Ren punching Jackson in the face with a yellowish-green wind coming from her hands, lacrima bits all around her.

For a second Jackson sounded like Jackson, "Awagh! What that awful smell?!"

I could only stare in amazement.

I barely even noticed… _him… _doing the same.

The screen eventually broke and Ren and Jackson disappeared form our eyes.

And I even heard Aiden be Aiden for a few seconds, "What the heck?..."

But those few seconds, thankfully, were short lived, "Well," he smirked, "I never saw that coming. And I know my brother didn't."

I stood. _I don't know how Ren is able to free herself, but I know I can't just sit here all day. I came here to finish this, and that's what I'm going to do. _

Aiden and I faced each other in a classic stand off, him with a smirk and me with a glare.

"Finally," he laughed in what seemed like genuine happiness, "finally I get to face and beat the leader."

"I've wanted to kick your butt ever since you started this whole incident," my voice was a growl laced with pain, "and I finally get to do it."

There was an understanding between us that it was time for the battle to begin. I grabbed a piece of stone from around my feet, "Change… metal spiders."

A silver magic circle didn't only appear on the piece of metal I was holding, but fifty or so more that covered the floor. I had an entire army of spiders that had legs with the sharpness of a needle tip.

I pushed my arm forward and ran with my army, ready to feel the satisfaction of my fist hitting his face again.

His dark eyes looked evil and excited when I glared into them. He pushed his arms out himself, causing the now sparking, wires from all the columns, at least five of them, to surge towards me. I ordered my army to cut the wires as fast as possible, which at first I thought would be an easy task.

But smaller wires began to separate from the bigger ones and they would repair themselves once they were cut.

My spiders couldn't keep up.

The wires had some sort of sticky stuff on it and got so complicated that it became a spider web of wires, with me caught right in the middle of it.

What the heck is with me getting captured so much?!

Aiden walked over to me with a smile, "Even though I'd like to continue this as much as you Leah, there are some things that I want to tell you. I want to get this off my chest. Especially before we start the fight of the century."

His voice started to get more arrogant as he finished speaking.

I felt a surge of anger go through me and I struggled against the wires, trying in vein to change them, I growled.

"Why didn't you tell us you were the leader?"

My body went cold, "W-what?" I coughed.

"Why didn't you tell us you were the leader?"

"_Why I didn't tell you? _Since when am I obligated to tell you _anything_?! Are you seriously so hung up on this that you're willing to murder thousands of people?!"

The wires tightened causing me to wince.

There was something different in his eyes when I glared into them again.

"Am I really? You're just in as much fault as I am, _Leah_, and you _know_ I'm right."

A cold feeling I couldn't really describe went through me once he was finished. _If you dare bring that up Aiden, I will kill you. I might literally kill you. _

All Aiden could actually hear was tinniest bit of a growl.

Aiden's eyes changed again, and his face got angrier. The wires around me started to spark with electricity.

I only got a second of staring at it before I got what felt like a million volts of electricity surging through my skin.

I've been through a lot of painful things in my life, but this takes the cake….

"This is what your friend Julia had to go through during her fight with Shizuka!"

The shocking stopped suddenly and the wires released me.

My body was completely numb, and I laid on the floor completely still.

Even though every bone in my body was willing me to get up.

_I'm not… I'm not going to give up this easily…. _

My body ached with every movement, every negative part of my personality was saying,

_Stay down. Stay down. You're paralyzed, moving is impossible for you. _

I glared at Aiden and put my arm on my knee, forcing myself to stand, _Since when can we not do the impossible?_

Putting his hands out, two grayish green magic circles appeared on them. I glared around the room to see that it was changing.

The magical codes were _changing_.

The room's walls, floors, and ceiling changed to a red rock; lava came to surround where the red globe was as like it was trapping it in a cage, and it spread out into the cracks that decorated the rock exterior. This included the floor, making it difficult to walk.

And not only did it make it difficult to walk, the lava added specks of flame to the already hot breeze.

My eyes were as wide as they could be. _Every code is red…. They're all red… How is Aiden able to do this?..._

_ How can he change the red codes?... And… Why is he able to use my magic?... _

Once I got a good look at Aiden, I saw that he changed along with the landscape.

His casual T-shirt and shorts were replaced with a red sleeveless shirt that let some of his stomach show, a long, red sleeveless, open, jacket with a black trim, loose, gray pants, and some kind of black slipper shoes. His eyes were sharp, more angry than calculating.

I narrowed my eyes. _What the heck are you up to… _

I coughed. The heat was a lot worse than the maze, my cheeks were pink with one gust of the breeze. I coughed again.

It's hard to breathe… It's really hard to breathe….

I felt dizzy when I tried to make myself stand. Every muscle in my body felt like jelly. It was like that one attack sapped what was left of my magic power in one shot….

I finally glared at Aiden like I did before. He seemed unaffected.

"You seem unaware, but I _do _practice Technology Manipulation Magic, Leah. Jackson and I are the hackers, _you know_."

"I can manipulate any kind of technology, and it _includes _your little game system."

I growled and glared at him harder, taking in more air. My cough got raspier.

A shadow covered his face, "and that's the main reason I can change the landscape. Those red codes are _mine_."

I coughed and growled, "It's disgusting that…" I coughed harder, " that those first red codes I saw in Mission Control… were from you…."

Aiden walked over to me, stepping over the lava like it was nothing. His eyes had a similar look as before, but they looked far angrier.

But they also looked more human. More Aiden-like.

I felt something come up in my throat. _Why am I seeing this?_

"These clothes give me fire resistance, unlike you," Aiden glared right into my eyes, "this heat is what your own twin brother had to go through when he fought one of the computer viruses… The giggling one…."

His clothes started to spread out and cover his arms in a black metal covering, "Does the wind make your throat dry? Does the heat make you dizzy? Doesn't it make your lack of movement even harder?" his voice rose, "Jackson and I have complete access to The Archives you know! We've seen everything from the feelings to physical! My mention of Shizuka is proof enough for you!"

The heat was intensifying and I had to force myself to fight, something I've never imagined myself doing.

His right fist went straight towards my face and I barely had enough time to dodge, "You said you wanted to fight the leader…" I gasped weakly, but as harshly as I could, "You wanted a fair fight, didn't you? What does torturing the leader have to do with beating her?..."

I lost my ability to dodge after a few seconds of fighting so he got more than a few hits in. They were just as painful for my pride as they really were….

He stopped suddenly with his hair covering his eyes. He was completely still.

I raised an eyebrow, slightly, _Why is he so still? _

The heated breeze was switching from getting hotter to cooler suddenly. My muscles suddenly started to give out, causing me to fall flat onto my stomach. My fighting instincts were returning, and they were painfully compelling me to move, to attack, but no matter what I did gravity would pull me back down.

_I should… I should have never wasted that much magic power getting up here…._

_ I probably would have been winning right now if I didn't…._

This is pathetic; both as a Fairy Tail wizard and a leader. I've taught myself better than this…

How on earth does Dad end up recovering from these kind of things?

I tried to glare up at Aiden, who was still as still as a board. The only movement was his hands shaking as he tried to pull them up, but suddenly he would put them back to his side again.

_What the heck is up with this child? _I growled inside my head.

Suddenly the breeze started to pick up to a gust, and the grayish, green magic circles appeared in his hands. My hair went into my eyes while I watched him change the landscape again.

But I could do nothing. I had no hope of doing anything.

Aiden's voice was raspy, almost like he was in pain, "I want to beat the leader…. I want to beat the leader! I _will _beat the leader!"

The rock we were standing on started to move, heated rocks fell from the ceiling, and I could feel whatever was left in my stomach start to come up into my throat. One of the rocks fell on my back, causing me not only to _expel _whatever was left in my stomach but to let lava burn through my shirt and scrape my skin.

I clenched my teeth and did a small gasp of pain. I tried in vein to get the rock off of my back.

And thanks to the new adrenaline that lava gave me, I actually managed to do it.

Off of lava spot, I watched as the walls and ceiling change to a (horrible) moving sky. The rock I was under changed into some sort of metal, round, flying vehicle. It had a propeller because I could hear it spinning behind me, but… I felt more stuff go into my throat,

Please…. Get me off of it…

Aiden's clothes changed back to normal and he walked over to me with ease, "That rock was how Jason felt during his battle," his voice was flat, "but since we're fighting I guess it isn't _fair _if I let you know that."

Aiden seemingly pulled a long, metal object out of the vehicle, "This is what a battle is," Aiden's voice got lower,

"_Nashi _Leah Dragneel."

Every part of my body tensed once he said those words. It causing me to swallow whatever I had in my mouth and my mind to go blank.,. "Don't you dare… Don't you dare say that name…."

I shot up with new energy I didn't know I had, _I never want to hear that name again…. Not until… Not until my parents are save and sound._

His eyes widened for a second before I punched him in the cheek, sweat coming off my face.

Or at least that's what I thought it was.

My new energy left me completely as I fell to the ground, flat on my stomach again, my mind no less blank than before.

I didn't hear a collapse, my punch must have did nothing but move him back a step.

My body felt cold, numb. Nothing inside me was willing me to go on.

Absolutely nothing.

I heard Aiden speak, surprise lightly in his voice but it was mostly pain is disappointment, "This is one of the worst and boring fights I've ever been in, and you dare call yourself a Fairy Tail wizard? The leader is supposed to be the strongest, but you're clearly _not._"

Not even the insults did anything.

"Fairy Tail wizards go through things like this all the time," he paused for a second then his voice got more raw, "the Achieves told me they _do_, so why can't you beat me?! I wanted a much better fight than this!"

I felt a shadow stand over me, and I heard evil slip into his voice, "Now it is time me to kill this… pathetic, leader. At least my dream of beating the leader will be true if nothing else."

The shadow moved upwards.

Then downward until it was a second from my face.

Then I heard something drop.

And I felt the shadow fall, and a. Body. Was. On. My. Back.

_Get… off… of… me… _was what my blank mind thought before we both laid there motionless.

Then who knows how much time passed after that.


	61. Chapter 60: Ren vs Jackson

Chapter 60

_With Jackson and Ren while Leah and Aiden were fighting _

Ren POV

Mommy always told me that fighting was never the best way to solve things. Daddy usually disagreed, as Uncle Natsu seemed to decide almost all of his decisions for him, but…. he would never want _me _to fight. He would always say I'm too young….

"I'm tired of everyone treating me like a _child!_"

I don't really know which one would be proud of me right now…. If at all…

Not even counting that, my fist felt weird on his face. It felt like I was hitting something fragile…

Something I'm not supposed to hit…

I looked at Jackson horrified once the smelly, green wind left my hands. His brown hair was in his eyes… and they… they looked angry…

What did I just do?...

"How…? I didn't know you have magic too…" Jackson's voice was full of surprise, but his face showed anger….

"I _never _expected that _you _would be willing to fight someone… Ren…" he wiped his cheek and groaned, "That really hurt…"

"I… um…." _I didn't mean to hurt you that bad… _"I didn't mean to _really _hurt you…"

"It seemed like you _really_ wanted to hurt me to me!" he screamed, "why would you lie about that?!"

I was shivering; _he's not acting like anyone around my age…. He's always acted our age before…_

"We are in the middle of a war here and you're worried about _not hurting_ me?!"

I couldn't respond to him. I was too terrified to speak…

I thought of memories of that lacrima… that room… instead of speaking.

_"Whoa! There's a bed! Books! Chairs! A table! Oh! There's even a refrigerator!" _

_ Once I woke up on the room's bed, I looked at my surroundings with excitement at first. I walked around to try out everything; I even ate food from the refrigerator before I saw a box in the middle of the room. It had "TV" written next to it with instructions. _

_ I followed them and saw my friends appear on the screen. They seemed worried…_

_ "Let her go! What kind of sick person are you trapping a seven year old?!"_

_ "She's a child, I don't even fully know if she's capable of using magic! She's in serious danger!"_

_ "She's a child…." My thoughts came immediately. They lasted for an hour._

_ They think of me like I'm a child. _

_ They're extra concerned because I'm a _child. _They favor me because I'm a _child. _They don't think I can use magic because I'm a _child. _This room is only probably nice because that virus thought I'm a _child_…._

_ A _child_, is that all I am?..._

Those memories are what lead to this…

Jackson walked closer to me and I instinctively backed away. He spread his arms out and a huge green magic circle appeared over his head,

"You've started a fight with that punch, Ren! Now come and fight me like the Fairy Tail member you are! You'll be a fine substitute for this game's leader!" his high-pitched voice started to get lower and deeper, "Take Over! Techno Soul!"

_I'm not "really" a member… _

I was frozen as I saw him start to change…

His skin was covered in iron… His eyes were changed to neon green… His height increased at least a few feet… It was like he changed into one of Mia's robot army soldiers…

_This… This isn't the Jackson I know… _Tears were in my eyes and my voice only showed my fear…

"Here I come!" his voice sounded electronic and low, "Give me your best shot Ren!"

He jumped as high as he could without hitting the ceiling, and my eyes got small once I saw the shadow cover me. Panic filled me, and ran out of the way as fast as I could.

I felt my blood pumping through my veins; I screamed once the force from his foot caused me to fall on my stomach. I looked up at him, "Stop it Jackson, I don't want to fight you!"

He stomped near where I fell causing me to flinch to my feet and run further, "Come on, you're my substitute Ren! Don't ruin it for me!"

Tears were still in my eyes, "I'm not Leah, Jackson! I don't like fighting at all!"

He stomped near me again, "Why does that matter? Aiden and I have been waiting for this ever since we've _discovered_ this game. You _have_ to fight me."

I clenched my fists and narrowed my eyes, "No _I don't_!" I put my hands into my hair, "I don't have to do _anything_! I barely even understand what's going on!"

_I want him to leave me alone… I want to go home…. _

He started to reach down, _is he trying to grab me?! _

I ran as fast as my legs could go, but he grabbed me by just taking an extra step…

He squeezed me and I winced loudly. He brought me up to his face, causing me to look directly into his eyes.

His cold, mechanical eyes…

"What happened to you Jackson?!" my voice was laced with my crying, "You're never like this! Not at all!"

"You never go around picking fights with people!"

He squeezed harder, "Well I never knew you had magic!"

My breath was knocked out of me and Jackson kept talking, "If you have magic then you can fight! Why are you refusing to do that?!"

I started to breathe quickly to try and save some of my lost air, but he squeezed even harder, "Answer me!"

"I… Can't…."

Suddenly, with a small, electronic growl he let me go.

I was falling head first into the ground with my eyes shut. Instinctively, I put my hands out and pink wind came out of them. The winds came together to make a large bed that I ended up landing on. I breathed out and looked at the ceiling, _what am I laying on?..._

Then a fist went through the middle of it.

I flew an extra foot in height and landed on Jackson's hand on my knees. I breathed out and shots of pain flew through every part of my body. I curled up in a ball and clutched my knees, screaming.

"You don't have any time to scream Ren!"

A fist flew right at me. I put my hand up to _try _and get normal wind to push me above Jackson's fist, but I was a little short… He hit me in my stomach and lower.

I could hear something crack, but it was nothing like the pain I felt.

I've never felt pain like this before…

The wall crashed into me a second later, easily rivaling the pain I felt earlier.

Motionlessly I fell to the floor. I'm not sure if I can walk right now…

Jackson met me by stomping in front of me, shaking the ground. He started to turn back to normal. He lifted me by the collar once he got close enough.

He could see the tears in my eyes at that point, "No _adult _cries this much during a fight," he clenched his teeth, "You're being no different than the _child _you're claiming not to be, Ren!"

My eyes widened once he finished. I glared into Jackson's own; they were cold and unfeeling. That coldness eventually spread to me.

"People are treating you like a child because you _are _one, and your behavior proves it!"

Wind started to appear around me, "I told you," my voice was low, "I'm _not _a child!"

Jackson jerked his hands away once my winds started to burn his hands. He raised an eyebrow, "So _now _you want to fight me?"

"Take back what you said!" my wind got slightly stronger, "I told you I'm tired of being treated like a child!"

Jackson giggled and his eyes had a glint of evil, "So you'll fight me if I get you angry?"

I huffed. _I still don't want to fight you, but what you said…_

He chuckled at my silence; "I guess that's a yes then. I'll give you a new…."

I launched forward with a turquoise wind in my hand. I covered his face in it without punching him. It felt better. Then I collapsed to my knees, allowing my pain to return. I clenched and gowned lightly.

"Why do I feel so sleepy all the sudden?..." Jackson collapsed to the ground with me.

I watched him fall and I laughed lightly, _I don't really know how I did that, but it worked._

I breathed in and out softly. It was surprisingly relaxing. In and out. In and out. In and out.

Then I heard something move next to me, but it was probably just a…

A hand grabbed onto my head.

I heard growls and the hand threw me far away from him. I winced and clenched myself into a ball again.

"I'm not going to loose to some kind of cheep attack like that!" Jackson's stomps echoed through the whole room.

_How did he wake up?!_

"You're going to pay for even _thinking _about doing that!" his voice started to get lower again, "Take Over, Techno Soul!"

My breath caught in my throat at the sight of him changing again. It was so much bigger… stranger… stronger…

Much more terrifying…

His body was covered with the same metal as before, but long tubes came out of all ends of his body until all that was left of him was one gigantic tube. It was like he was trying to change into a worm…. The sheer volume and size he changed to left me no room to run. I was trapped…

Jackson didn't even speak as he started to encircle me.

_What am I supposed to do?... _I sat and cried, _I can't beat a huge worm monster like this!_

I flinched out of my thoughts once I head Jackson do a sound similar to a snake's… "Come on… Ren…. Get angry again…. Show me what you got…."

_No! _"I won't! I'm not going to fight you! I _can't _fight you!"

The space around me started to close.

"Oh… Come on… I know you have it in you…"

The space closed more.

The wind started to pick up around me, "I said I _won't_!"

"You _will_… I can sense your anger…"

I put my hands in my hair, and the wind increased again, "No… I…"

"You will!"

"Shut up!"

The wind that was gathering around me turned to a red color and spread out in a circle. The heat from the wind started to melt the iron off Jackson's… skin?...

I think the iron _is_ his skin rather than a coating…

Jackson groaned in pain and the his length shortened. Eventually he went back to normal again…

Well almost normal….

Jackson had a human looking form, but it was still covered in iron, and his eyes were a bright blue instead of black….

_I can't take this anymore…. _

"Man that hurt! What kind of wind is that?!" Jackson reached on top of his iron coated hair, "I must of gotten you really angry, didn't I?"

I stared at him wide eyed, _I don't want to get angry at you! _

Jackson walked closer again and punched his fist to his other hand, "Now you're fighting like a wizard, keep it up!"

Tears were fixing to fall from my face, _why are you acting like this Jackson?... Why are you torturing me so much?! _

I tried to get up, to try and run away... but something in my legs were broken, so moving only made them hurt worse. This forced me to look at Jackson right in the eyes again, _am I going to die?..._

_ Am I really going to die? _

"You were just starting to get good Ren! Don't give up on me yet!" he smirked, "Or do I have to make you angry again?"

I shook my head and gasped, "Please no…."

He smiled a smile that made me feel sick, "Well I'm tired of waiting for a good fight so I'll fight you no matter how you feel now."

My voice was barely audible, "But I can't fight…."

"There's…. nothing… you can… do about it…."

Jackson just fell to the ground all the sudden…. He fell to the ground and I didn't do anything…

I blinked my tears away, "Jackson!"

_I don't care if he pushed me too far! He's fainting for some weird reason; I don't want him to die! _

"Come on Jackson! You need to wake up!"

….

_With Lamen, Rayna, Len, Amber, and the blonde guy. _

Blonde Guy POV

"What should we do with him?"

It had at been at least an hour since we beat Lamen and Amber was _way_ past patient…

"I don't know… " I looked at him, "He doesn't really look like he did before. He looks like a twelve year old kid…"

"With black-brown hair and forest green eyes. How on earth is this the same person?" Amber glared at him, "if he wasn't unconscious I'd beat it out of him."

"Amber… Is that really a good idea?..."

Amber's glare almost scared me into a corner again, "Of course it is, you idiot!"

_Why did I question her?... _She started to pace around the room and glare at anyone who wasn't conscious, "Why won't anyone just _wake _up? We've been sitting here for at least an hour!"

I debated if it was a good idea to answer her question, but judging on her mood it's probably better that I don't… I don't really want to die today…. I've already had my life flash before my eyes too many times to count….

Amber grabbed Len suddenly and I flinched, "Come on you idiot! I didn't knock you out that hard!"

I looked at her wearily, _you really underestimate your own strength Amber…_

Oh and that reminds me. She had to use _that _to beat Lamen.

_That. _

I think I'll have nightmares later….

I sighed and let myself space out and enjoy this little moment of peace we were blessed with. Well that was until Rayna started to wake up near me.

"Awah…" she rubbed her head, "What happened again?... Why am I here?..."

Amber jogged over once she heard a voice, "It's about time you woke up Rayna!"

Rayna's face looked unusually innocent, "Did I do something to you?... Trust me I'd probably only do something to-.."

Rayna ran over to Len was, "What the heck is Len doing here?!"

Amber looked angry… or frustrated at least when I glanced over at her, "Hey, idiot, can you do the honor of explaining what happened? I _really_ don't have the patience right now…"

"Sure, sure!" _I'm not going to invoke her wrath right now… _"Umm… Rayna… Do you remember who we are?..."

She stared at my face once she was finished grabbing onto Len's shirt, "Uh, let me think…."

I gave her a few seconds…

Then it came to her, "Wait… Aren't you the blonde guy who refuses to tell anyone his name?"

I sweat dropped, "Yep that's me…."

"Why don't you tell anyone your name?"

"It's a long story…."

Rayna just stared at me blankly after that, and that didn't please Amber at all…

"Well this is taking forever," she growled, "can you just explain things _quickly_? I want to get out of this game…"

_Why would you want to get out of the game?... You've always at least liked it… _I looked at her worriedly, _is something going on?..._

Then she noticed me looking too long, "Would you stop staring at me you idiot?! We have better things to worry about!"

I blushed a little and turned away. _That probably wasn't my best idea… _

"Len's finally waking up!" Rayna looked at Amber and me and motioned us to come over.

It didn't take Amber more than a few seconds, "Finally everyone's awake. Can we go now?"

I looked at her again with similar consequences as last time, but Len seemed to remember some of what we've been through at least…

She looked around the room, "Did I catch something on fire again?..."

Rayna laughed, "Oh I would bother you about it if you did, trust me."

Len narrowed her eyes, "Don't you think I already know that?"

"Yes I do," Rayna smiled, "and you're too injured to fight me. So I can say as much irritating stuff as I want and you can't do anything."

Len tried to sit up, "You want to try me?" but she couldn't really do anything…

She groaned and Rayna laughed, "I told you."

"Just shut up," Len groaned.

I laughed lightly once they were finished, but I was mainly concerned what we were going to do with-

He's gone. Lamen's gone.

"Umm… Amber… Where did Lamen go?..." I chose my words very carefully.

"What?" Amber looked at me then around the room, "he should be right here… Wait…"

"Where the heck did the slippery idiot go off to?!"

"That's why I asked…" my voice shook for a second, "have you seem him, Len, Rayna?"

"Nope."

"No."

I gulped, "I think we should go now… who knows who we let escape…"

….

_Outside the base…_

Third Person POV

"Lamen", the brown-black haired boy, stood in a dark corner a few miles away from his old hideout talking to someone on a circular lacrima, "No, the mission failed sir… I mean master."

"Did you do the technique properly? I know I transferred it to you correctly."

"Yes, I did. I went under another name and the two children, Aiden and Jackson, were mostly under my control."

"Why did the mission fail then, Haden?"

"The wizard guild Fairy Tail and their in-game friends. I did not manage to kill them." Haden's voice got softer,

"I'm sorry."

His master chuckled, "Don't worry, we have a lot more for them yet."


End file.
